Natblida
by tv-addict007
Summary: The oxygen problem on the Ark was discovered way sooner. Plans were forged and actions were taking place. But plans never last long in the course of actions. At the end, a blue-eyed, blonde baby ends up alone on earth. Her blood as black as the night. Or maybe it's just the beginning….
1. Prologue

**A/N:**

 **Hi guys,**

 **It's me…. again, with a new story…. again. I've had this idea since last year, but never got around to actively write it – until now. I've got a massive writer's block coupled with a busy life and other things. For all of those who read one or more of my other stories, I'm deeply sorry for not having updated for so long. I'm working on it, but I'm still not fully over the writer's block. Finally beginning with this story helped a little and I promise you I won't abandon my other stories. I will just need some more time working through everything.**

 **Though before we'll start this journey, I'd like to state a few things beforehand. As you've probably read in the summary, this story is about Clarke growing up on earth instead of the space. And she's a nightblood. The thought that started this whole idea was: How would everything be if it would have been Clarke instead of Luna who was with Lexa in the conclave, and Lexa helping her flee? That was the original thought and I began imagining different scenes and they got so many that I started to divide them into different parts, meaning I crated the ground work for my very first series.**

 **The story throughout this series will be mostly told from Clarke's point of view, though I worked in a few chapters were we'll see Lexa's and maybe some of the others. This series will roughly follow the happenings of the show – with a few changes. And another important thing: Lexa will not die!**

 **Regarding Trigedasleng, I decided not to use it for now. Let's pretend that as long as the Sky People aren't there yet, they are all talking Trigedasleng. Later in the series I try to make the difference obvious.**

 **Well, that's enough from me. I hope you're curious enough to enter this journey with me.**

 **So it begins…**

* * *

 **Prologue**

Long, gentle fingers traced the six little letters on the side of the tight knit fabric. A soft humming could be heard in the room, the melody of a song earlier generations have already sung to their children. Her own mother loved to sing it to her, creating their own little universe. Her fingers moved along the last of the letters.

 _Clarke._

Her little angel. Her world. Her life.

Even after four months, Abby Griffin still couldn't stop herself staring in awe at this little bundle of life. Clarke seemed to be the perfect blend of herself and her husband, Jake.

Abby bended further down and kissed her daughter's forehead tenderly, big blue eyes flickered up to her and a happy laugh left those little lips causing the young mother to join into the laugher. Tiny fingers reached up and grabbed onto the chain Abby always wore around her neck. It was a trinket Jake had given her for their wedding, three oval circles intertwined with each other. The symbol of the Ark.

This little symbol had been in Jake's family for three generations, Jake's ancestor had created it as his wife had been tasked to draw the symbol displaying their new space station. Jake had wanted her to have this and in a few years, they would give it to their daughter.

"You're a cutie, my little baby girl."

"Beautiful just like her mother."

The blonde woman turned around and smiled widely at her husband who moved away from the door and towards his girls, first planting a kiss on his daughter's head before his lips met the ones of his amazing wife.

"Did you get the results of your tests?"

Jake hummed absently, gently caressing Abby's back while he stared at his daughter whom had happily closed her eyes after her father had come into sight, content to know that now both of her parents are with her.

"I take it the outcome didn't really satisfy you much?"

"The systems which aren't working correctly can't be bypassed. It will take quite some time to get the needed materials for the repair. We would need to start working on it as soon as possible. Maybe even evacuating a station for some time being."

"Evacuating a whole station isn't going to be easy. It's pretty much impossible. Where shall the people go? There's no space."

"I know," Jake sighed. He already went through a lot of different scenarios of how they could repair the machines in the best way without creating a big hassle. "I'll speak to the council."

"They won't be happy about this."

"No one will be happy about this. But I can't change the fact that we may have a serious issue on our hands just because they don't like it. Keeping it under wraps will just make it even worse."

"Be careful, Jake. The council is even more ruthless than usual. Diana has a tight grip on everything."

"I will. Is there any progress with that serum you were talking about?"

Abby had found some notes about a serum in the remaining data from the Polaris station. Apparently a scientist was working on a serum which could make it able for them to withstand the radiology on earth caused by the bombs, giving them the option to go back to the earth way sooner than planned.

At first, the young doctor had toyed with the idea of looking into this serum, knowing that she'd have to work on it in private seeing that the Ark wasn't fond of experiments like these. However, when she had heard from Jake that there might be a problem with the life support system of the Ark, Abby hadn't hesitated and started to work on it. Now, the blonde had everything ready for a test trial.

"I'm about to start some test, see if everything works as it should. If there are any negative effects. I'm afraid the data wasn't complete and some part of it was damaged. But I'm in cheerful spirits."

"That means we have an alternative?"

"Maybe. But I need more time."

Jake put his arm around his wife, holding her closely. "We'll make it through it, I promise."

* * *

Jake coursed loudly as his hand got in contact with one of the hot pipes. Slumping back against the cold metal wall the young engineer sighed in frustration. He had his hearing in front of the council yesterday about the problems with their systems and it couldn't have gone any worse than it had. They had downright shredded his results in little pieces, stating that all of his findings were based on a hypothetic. A _what if_.

Sure, there was a chance that the problem won't get worse and that everything was alright and that there were no worries about a future system failure. But Jake didn't like to live with what if's, at least not these concerning the future of thousands of people. The least they could do was starting a repairing action in Jake's thought. Just a small team of people working on this. Better now than later when this what if will become very real. _Better safe than sorry_ , his father had always said to him.

Even his private conversation with his best friend, council man Thelonious Jaha, was for naught. Apparently there was nothing Thelonious could do to help him, advising him to keep tab on the problem and react as soon as it will get worse. Why everything had to get worse until someone was willing to do something was beyond him. They were in space, low on materials. By not acting now they were wasting time, time they'd later need.

Jake already thought about doing a quick video and releasing it on the Ark Channel for everyone to see, giving the citizen of the Ark the chance to choose themselves if they want to ignore the problem or do something about it.

Though his wife was against it, telling him to listen to the council for now while she'd try to work faster on the serum.

Exhaling loudly, Jake gathered his things and left his work area and was looking forward to a quiet evening with his girls. His feet carried him through the corridors, knowing the path to his and his wife's rooms by heart. He was just about to turn into the corridor his home was located when a soft yet strong hand gripped on his arm, pulling him back and into one of the machine rooms.

"Hey, what-"

"Shhh, it's me." Jake glanced stunned in his wife's eyes, surprised at her actions. "What did you do?"

"Abby?"

"The guards are searching for you. What did you do, Jake?"

"Nothing!" His confused eyes searched in her panicking ones for the answer for his wife's strange behavior. He hadn't done anything but his normal job and he had no idea why the guards were searching for him. "I was doing normal maintenance."

"God, Jake! I told you to be careful." Abby raised her voice, though not loud enough to attract attention to their position.

"Wait, where's Clarke?"

"She's fine. Callie's watching her."

Jake shook his head. "Did they tell you what they want?"

"No, only that they are searching for you. I've heard from others that there's a warrant out for you."

"I don't understand. I haven't done anything to earn myself a warrant."

Abby turned around combing with her hand through her hair, shaking her head a few times while trying to ground herself again. There was no time to lose her mind. If she wanted to protect her family she will have to keep a cool head. After a few seconds she turned back around looking at her husband. "Is there anything you can think of that could've gotten you into this mess? Anything?"

"With _anything_ you mean about the faulty systems I found?"

"I'm pretty sure they don't search for you because you did your day-to-day-work."

"No. I've told you about the meeting with the council. There was nothing more."

"And you've told no one else?"

"No," He replied when suddenly his eyes widened as he remembered something. "I've told Thelonious that I thought about releasing a video to the citizen."

"He wouldn't do that." Abby instantly spoke, unbelieving that their friend could and would betray them like that.

"Maybe he told someone whom told the wrong person?"

"The serum is ready. All my tests have been positive lately."

Stunned at the sudden change of topic Jake glanced at his wife. "What are you saying, Abby?"

The blonde doctor moved closer to her husband again. "Jake, we both know what happens if they arrest you. Whatever the reason for the warrant, it will end in your death. Our only chance is to flee to earth."

"What?!" Jake asked shocked at what he had just heard his wife say.

"We get Clarke, take the serum and make our way as fast as possible to the escape pot."

Strong and calloused hands gripped on Abby's arms as if hoping to get the woman back to reality and think clearly. "Are you aware of what you're saying? You want to inject us – inject our sweet baby girl – with a questionable substance, leave everything and everyone we know behind and take the only escape pot the Ark's keeping ready at all times for emergencies and go down to an still radiated earth?"

"They will kill you!"

"But you and Clarke will live!"

Silence.

Two sets of eyes staring into each other.

A silent battle of wills.

"I am trusting in this serum! And I am trusting in _you_ to get us down there safely!" Abby continued now in a more collected tone.

"Abby…"

The soft hands of Abby moved up to cup her husband's cheeks, her eyes full of despair before she shakily spoke up again. "Clarke needs her father. _I_ need you."

Jake briefly looked up to the ceiling thinking of himself as crazy for even considering his wife's plan.

" _Please_."

This one little word, so full of sadness and with the feeling that any of these six letters will break any moment brought Jake's attention back to Abby, a lone tear running down her left cheek completed the picture of a wife and mother trying to desperately protecting what was hers. And the sight of his hurting love was all it took to break through the remaining concerns.

Gently he wiped away the tear and placed a reassuring kiss on her head, evolving her into a tight embrace. "Alright." He felt her nod against his chest but she kept her arms around him, as if she was afraid that if she let go he'd disappear.

"How do you want to pull this off?"

"It's not far to our rooms. The guards were already there and they're searching other parts of the station right now. They will probably come back to see if you arrived home in the meantime, but I think you've got some time before they come. They can't do a huge search, it would get the attention of the citizen. You've enough time to pack some things. I'll go get the serum and Clarke. We'll meet at the dropship. Do you think you could manage this and stay unseen?"

"I know of a few maintenance shafts. I think I could make my way there mostly through them."

"Okay," The blonde nodded, lips pulling up a bit to try and give him a reassuring smile. "I love you."

Jake smiled and gave Abby a quick kiss on the lips. "I love you, too."

"Let's go before the guards come back to search this area again."

Abby opened the door and glanced out into the corridors trying to see if any guards were there, motioning for her husband to come out after her as she cleared the path. Jake squeezed her hand before slipping past her and making quickly his way to their home to pack some necessary things. It will be hard to pull off, but Abby was confident. It _had_ _to_ work out.

As soon as the blonde saw Jake slipping through the doors and into their rooms she made her own way back to the lab, all the way trying to look like nothing was going on and hoping that no one would stop her on her way. Time was crucial.

Opening the door to medical Abby noticed some of her colleagues treating patients and she was glad that none of them seemed to be aware of her presence. Keeping her head low she moved to her work station.

"Abby, what are you doing here?"

Tensing slightly at the voice of her superior the blonde doctor turned around and looked into the face of Dr. Ramon Baker. She had always looked up to the man, thought of him as a brilliant doctor and a friendly boss. He had always encouraged her, telling her that she was on her way to become a great doctor herself.

He was also the one telling her she was pregnant.

Putting on a brave smile Abby shook her head. "I forgot something. I was just about to fetch it and go home."

"The guards were here for Jake. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's probably about the hearing in front of the council about the possibility of upgrading some of the systems. You and I both know how he is, Dr. Baker. Chances are he's sitting somewhere tinkling with some machines forgetting all about the time."

Dr. Baker chuckled at that. "True. He sure loves his job. Well, greet him for me when you see him."

"I will."

She watched how Dr. Baker approached a new patient and went back to work on getting three syringes with the serum. On her way out of medical she grabbed a few other supplies she thought they could need for their trip down to earth.

Once out of medical she quickly made her way to Callie to get her daughter, hoping that her friend won't have the time to converse much. She and Callie had always been close, having lived next door to each other while growing up. It had been a natural decision to make her Clarke's godmother. Abby trusted her with the lives of her loved ones.

That meant also that Callie was the one to easily pick up any strange behavior Abby would show. She'd have to be extra careful with her. If possible, Abby didn't want her involved in this mess. The prospect of leaving her best friend behind hurt, but she can't let them take her husband.

Knowing the way by heart Abby soon found herself knocking on Callie's door, waiting patiently for the other woman to greet her. It took only a few seconds for Callie to come to the door and the doctor was greeted by her best friend with a fussy baby in her arms.

"Abby, I didn't expect you for another hour."

"I got off work early. It's a slow day today." Abby shrugged.

"Really? You're always the last to go home."

"Jake will come home soon and we want to spend some time with Clarke."

Callie smiled. "That's understandable."

"I hope she's been good today."

"She's an angel. Though a little edgy for the last hour or so. I haven't been able to calm her down yet."

"We're having a few more kids in medical right now, maybe she caught the cold that's going round at the moment. I'll get her checked out if she keeps being so fussy."

"Okay," The black-haired woman lifted her goddaughter up and placed her into the arms of her mother, Clarke immediately turning her head into Abby's chest breathing in the familiar smell of her. "Let me just get her things and then off you go."

Abby smiled melancholy at Callie's retreating form. She'll miss her best friend, that was for sure. They had shared their ups and downs of their life with each other. Leaving Callie behind caused a piercing pain through her heart. Abby knew that if it would be allowed to have more than one child on the Ark, Callie would be the perfect sister the blonde could have wished for.

"So, there are her things." Callie came back into view and handed Abby the bag containing Clarke's things.

The blonde doctor glanced at the dark-haired woman, adjusting Clarke in her arms she put her other arm around Callie and squeezed her tightly fully knowing that this was the last time she'd see her. "Thanks."

"Of course, Abby. You know I always love to help out." Callie replied confused at her friend's odd behavior.

"I've got to go. Take care."

Abby didn't wait for a response and took off towards the machinery room Jake would be waiting for them. She steadily made her way through the corridors, a few people greeted her, some of them she knew from medical, though Abby didn't stop for one second.

The blonde cursed under her breath when she noticed two guards making their way in her direction. Fortunately they appeared obvious to her presence and Abby didn't hesitate and quickly opened the closest door and entered the room. Closing the door behind her she turned around and took note of the room, a supply closet. Not much hiding space in case the guards did see her entering the room.

Abby held her breath as she listened to the two sets of feet drawing closer to her hiding place. Unfortunately Clarke chose this exact moment to start fussing again, her whining no doubt audible from outside on the corridor. The blonde mother tried to shush her daughter, rocking her gently in her arms.

Blue eyes concentrated on her mother but she still kept wiggling around in her arms. Abby quickly pulled out the necklace around her neck, knowing that Clarke always loved to play with it for some reason. She placed it around her daughter's neck and tiny fingers immediately sought out the chain now lying on her little belly. She smiled as she watched big blue eyes inspecting the trinket with wonder in her eyes.

Abby's eyes flickered to the door as she heard the door guards directly outside the door. This was it. Either she'd be discovered in the next few seconds or she and Jake had a real chance at fleeing from the Ark with their daughter, seeing that she was just a corridor away from the dropship.

She was relieved when she heard the steps continuing on and further away from her spot. Waiting another few seconds for the guards to be gone completely from the corridor, the doctor busied herself with watching her daughter touching the trinket. She wished her daughter would've had more time to grow up before being taken to such a risky mission.

But as much as she wanted to Abby couldn't change their situation right now. This was her family and she was protecting each and every member of it, even if it'd be the last thing she'd ever do.

The moment Abby thought it was safe to leave the supply closet she continued to make her way to where Jake was waiting for her.

Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she rounded the corner and entered the room containing the little ship that will take them to earth. Panic arose in her as she couldn't find her husband and her eyes flickered through the room to find her love.

"Jake?" Nothing.

"Jake?!"

There was a noise from behind the dropship and her husband stepped out of the shadows, and only then did Abby try to control her breathing again. "God, Jake! Don't scare me like that."

"I'm sorry. I was working on the ship."

Abby glanced warily at the ship that seemed barely big enough to fit all three of them inside. "Is it ready yet?"

"I have to breach some of the programs, but I think it could work." Jake replied, gently brushing over his daughter's head before he eyed the little medical bag at Abby's side. "Do you have the serum?"

His wife followed his stare and looked back up at him again as she nodded.

"Okay," Jake said and rolled up his sleeve. "I'll take it first."

"Jake…"

"I won't let you or our daughter take it before I know for certain that it won't harm either of you." Jake argued.

Abby nodded understanding and handed Clarke over to Jake, taking out the three syringes with the serum. Jake held his daughter securely in his arm and held out his other arm for Abby to inject him with the serum. Both of them watched as the black liquid made its way into Jake's system.

"How are you feeling?"

Jake took a deep breath as he waited for any negative reactions of the serum to appear, but there was nothing. No pain, no itch, no strange reactions of any kind. "Good. I can't feel any changes. Is that normal, should I feel something? Does it work?"

"I don't know. The tests were all positive, but I don't know anything about the human organic reaction to the serum."

"So we don't know for sure if it worked."

Abby looked at Jake trying to find some words. Did it work? She had dozens of test results stating that it was working perfectly. But then again she had yet to test it on a real human body. As much as she wanted to tell her husband that it had worked doubtlessly, there was still a voice at the back of her head telling her that there was a chance for it to not work.

However they won't know until they were on earth.

Best case scenario, it worked.

Worst case scenario, they would all die. And everything would've been for naught.

Jake seemed to know her thoughts as he now held Clarke with both of his arms. "Abby, we can still change our mind. We can go back out there and you and Clarke can live safely on the Ark."

"But they'll kill you."

"I just want a life for the two most precious women in my life. I don't care about what will happen to me."

"But I care. And Clarke cares, too. Her smile always lightens up the room the moment her eyes fall upon you. She doesn't calm down in anyone else's arms as quick as she does in yours. She may not be able to say it yet but, just like for me, you're her world."

"Don't neglect yourself like that. Clarke loves you, too."

Abby smiled. "I know. But I want her to grow up with her mother _and_ her father."

"Alright. Then let's get this over with so we can prepare the dropship."

It didn't take long to inject Abby and Clarke with the serum and Jake continued to work on the dropship while Abby took Clarke into the ship. The blonde didn't know how much time had passed until she heard a sound of victory and saw Jake grinning widely at her. She couldn't help but smile at his reaction.

"Ready?"

He nodded. "Ready."

They strapped each other in and secured the few things they had with them. Clarke was safely in her mother's arms as Jake pushed some buttons and the ship came to life with just a few clicks. Abby waited with bated breath for the start, but she only heard Jake's cursing and she glanced at the control system in front of them, a red warning blinking at them.

"What's wrong?"

"The hatch won't open up."

"Can you work it out?"

Jake frowned, glaring annoyed at the console in front of him. "I could, but I'd need a day or so."

"A day? We don't have a day."

"There's another way. We could manually open the hatch." There was something in his voice. A defeated tone as he stated the second option.

"I sense a _but_."

"The lever is outside of the room. Then there'll be a thirty seconds delay until the hatch will open up. In that time someone has to disconnect the dropship from the Ark."

"Thirty seconds are doable, Jake. I can go and pull that damn lever and run back to the ship. It's not that far."

"I know, but…but what if you don't make it back in time?"

"Jake," Abby sighed before leaning in to capture his lips with hers. "We both know that I have to be the one going back out there. I have absolutely no idea how to disconnect the dropship."

Jake nodded and observed Abby opening the securing straps again. His eyes never left her form as she got out of the ship and made her way back to the other side of the room and out of his sight. Sighing he glanced at his daughter. "Let's hope your mom's back soon, kiddo."

Outside of the room Abby opened the security glass over the lever and took a deep breath before she pulled it. An alarm rung out, signaling the area for the impending opening of the hatch. She was about to run back to the ship that contained her family when a hand on her arm stopped her.

Shocked at being discovered Abby turned around and stared in the face of her confused looking friend. "Thelonious?"

"Abby, what's going on here?" Thelonious Jaha asked her.

"Thelonious, please! I don't have time to explain."

Thelonious just kept staring at his friend, his grip on Abby's arm not once loosening. "There are guards on their way, quite a lot of them thanks to the alarm!"

Another warning sounded through the room and corridor. A loud metallic voice stating that the hatch was about to open up and that the doors have to be closed to maintain the life supporting system keep working flawlessly.

Thelonious looked wide-eyed at Abby. "What did you do?"

"I'm saving my family!" Abby yelled and tore her arm out of Jaha's grip, making a dash run towards the dropship. However she only made it three steps into the room when the hatch was suddenly opening, and then she knew.

She knew that she won't be able to make it back to the dropship.

Back to her family.

She absently felt strong arms moving around her pulling her back out of the room, from the corner of her eyes she saw a dark-skinned hand hit the button to close the door. Abby felt like everything was moving in slow motion, though it was over in seconds.

The blonde glanced through the milky window of the door and watched the dropship disconnect from the Ark, slowly moving out of sight.

In a blink of an eye it was gone.

Her family gone, on their way to earth.

Without her.

She heard someone talking to her but she couldn't make out the words. They were a blur. She couldn't pull her eyes away from the now empty room. After a beat she registered the words Thelonious was throwing at her.

"Abby, we need to go!"

A slender hand placed itself on the glass of the door directly were she had seen the dropship a minute ago. Abby didn't notice the tears forming in her eyes, lonely little drops making their way down her face.

Thelonious threw a quick glance over his shoulder, steps and voices could be heard in the distance. There was no doubt that the guards would be here in a flash. Having enough of Abby's lack of action he turned her around and gripped onto her shoulders, pulling him close enough to stare directly into her eyes. It only took a second before her eyes finally flickered up to meet his stare. "Abby, we can't change anything about their fate. But we can change yours! We need to move, now!"

It felt like hours until he took note of the barest of nods though it was enough for him. He turned around and made his way down the corridor, only stopping when he noticed Abby's absence.

"Abby!"

The young blonde once again stared at the closed door, her heart breaking more and more with every second that her family was moving farther away from the Ark.

Away from her.

Her hand touched the window again and she leant slightly forward, resting her forehead on the cool glass. Abby closed her eyes and imagined Jake's soft smile and gentle eyes. She could literally hear her daughters squealing laugh. Tears were now running freely.

"May we meet again."

* * *

Jake Griffin stared numbly out of the window looking at nothing but the blackness of the space. The sight of the Ark long gone and he felt like he was floating in a big nothingness.

He couldn't believe that Abby wasn't with them. That she wasn't sitting there right next to him, laughing unbelieving at the fact that they had actually left the Ark in a dropship and were on their way to the unknown, their daughter safely in her arms.

He had waited as long as he could for Abby to return. His eyes had never left the entrance to the room as he had waited for his love to return to his side. However the hatch was opening before Abby had made her way back. The immediate relieve he had felt flooding through his body had been quickly replaced by dread, knowing that Abby wouldn't be able to reach them in time and that she had been completely exposed to the space. Only thanks to Jaha's quick acting hadn't his wife been pulled through the open hatch and into space.

As much as he didn't want to, he had to disconnect the dropship from the Ark if he didn't want to create serious problems to it. Jake didn't want to leave his wife behind, yet he had no other choice but to do so.

A squirming body in his arms brought him back into the present and he was met with big blue eyes as he glanced down at his daughter. "Hey, Kiddo. Don't worry, I'm sure your mom won't rest until she's with us again. Until then it looks like it's just us for now."

He just hoped his wife won't do anything too reckless. As much as he wanted her back with them he'd rather want her alive and safe back up in the Ark. Yet he knew Abby, knew that as of this moment it was probably her sole aim to find a way down to earth and reconnect with him and their daughter.

Presuming the serum was indeed working.

Jake maneuvered Clarke over to his left arm and reached out to the console in front of them, starting to work on moving them towards earth. The minutes crawled by in silence as the dropship floated towards earth, Clarke stayed calm in his arms.

He didn't know how much time had passed until he felt turbulences starting to shake through the little ship. The loud clattering noises sounded throughout the dropship and little exploding sounds from outside could be heard, yet all Jake could hear was the frightened screams of his little daughter. He automatically held her tighter in his arms hoping to god that they'll survive the reentry and landing.

"Shhhh, Clarke. I'm here. Everything will be fine, I promise." The blonde father whispered into his daughter's ear, but she kept screaming. Not that he was blaming her for it. He could understand why she was upset, he himself was quite nervous. He was all churned up inside, his heart beat wildly as they continued their journey to the ground and hopefully not their death.

A loud bang rung out and the dropship shook even more. Clarke's screams increased, her face already red from all the crying. Jake tried desperately to calm down the baby in his arms, but his words were not only meant for Clarke but also for himself.

Jake covered Clarke further into her baby blanket she had been kept snuggled into the whole time. It felt like hours filled with Clarke' upset screams, groaning and clattering metal and bangs from their descant. He hoped dearly that the dropship was working fine and that their landing wouldn't end in them crashing against the hard ground and into their death.

There was a hard jolt signaling the landing process started up, the loose things flew around the little space of the ship. Some of them hitting Jake painfully and he engulfed Clarke completely in his body.

After a few more moments it was all over. The loud noises were gone leaving only silence which was only broken by the faint whining from Clarke. He waited a little bit before he unfastened the straps from his seat and stood up. His legs felt like jelly, his heart beat like a maniac in his chest, his body hurt from the things that hit him on their way down and his breathing was still shallow.

 _But_ they were alive.

That was all that mattered to him at the moment. Shaken up but alive.

"Well, Clarke. Looks like we're on earth. Let's hope we'll not die from the radiation now, huh?" He spoke, smiling at his daughter. There was a bang in his heart knowing that his wife wasn't there with them to share this moment with.

After two steps Jake felt the dropship move suddenly and he had just enough of time to tighten his hold on his daughter, keeping her between his chest and arms before his world turned upside down. Jake got jostled around the dropship as it continued its fall into an unknown depth.

* * *

It was a fine day, the sun was shining brightly and no clouds could be seen on the sky. Winter had just gone, the flowers and trees no longer carrying ice tips on their leaves. Birds were singing melodies, their soft tunes carrying through the forest.

Nyko hummed quietly as he walked through the woods searching for herbs and other useful plants. He had been ecstatic when the healer of their village asked him if he'd like to be his second. Though Nyko loved to train with the others he felt like being a warrior wasn't what he wanted to do. He'd rather help people in need.

If it came down to it he had no problems with killing someone if needed, knew that their life was cruel and that death came easily. Yet, Nyko was always the one discussing and arguing with the others, seeing the positive side of things while the others drew their weapons without using many words.

His steps came to a sudden halt when he noticed an unfamiliar object in the distance and his feet took him towards it.

Nyko stared carefully at the strange object lying on the foot of the stony mountain. It looked pretty banged up, not surprising if this thing fell from the top of the mountain. He knew that he probably shouldn't get any closer than he already was, though his curiosity won out and the young boy edged closer to the capsule.

His hand came in contact with the cold metal of the unknown object. Slowly he walked around it his hand never leaving the cool surface as it glided over the unsteady area. He had absolutely no idea what this thing could be. He had been regularly in this area to search for herbs or accompanied his family at a hunt, yet he had never seen such a thing.

As he walked he suddenly drew back his hand as if it had just gotten burned when he heard a sound coming from this thing in front of him. Nyko stumbled backwards in panic, falling in the process as there was suddenly moving a part of this metallic object in his direction.

Wide-eyed Nyko sat on the ground staring in the now open object. There were no sounds from inside, no movements visible. The boy could clearly see the mess inside, different things hanging from the ceiling, things thrown around. His throat bobbed as he collected his courage and stood up again, ready to inspect the unknown.

Careful steps led him up to the capsule. His eyes scanned the dark inside and Nyko contemplated if this thing came from the Mountain. It had been quite some time after the last big attack from the Mounon.

Nyko startled briefly as his eyes fell upon an unmoving body of a man, his face bloody and bruised. A long staff-a-like object tore through his chest, no doubt being the reason of his demise. There was still blood dripping onto the ground from the wound and Nyko hoped the man didn't have to endure a lot of pain until the cool grip of death took him.

The color of the man's blood gave him pause. Black. The man had been a nightblood. From wherever he had come from.

"Yu gonplei ste odon." The boy whispered and closed his eyes for a second. Whether enemy or friend, death united them all. For Nyko it was always sad when a life ended, another sign for him to become a healer rather than a warrior.

Seeing nothing of interest in the metal capsule Nyko was about to step out again and return to his parents on their hunt he had abandoned to search for herbs when he suddenly caught a movement from the corner of his eyes. Looking back to the dead man he noticed little movements from between his arms, just inches away from the object which had torn through the man.

Once again moving towards the man he lifted one of his arms and discovered a moving pink cloth. His fingers gently touched the soft fabric of the colorful cloth, tainted slightly with the blood of the man. Slowly moving the fabric back his breath caught in his throat when his eyes fell upon a baby, bright blue eyes staring up to him.

Suddenly a hand gripped tightly onto his arm and Nyko jumped back in shock, dread flooded through his system. His eyes flickered up and was surprised to see the man's eyes opened, a pained groan coming from his lips. Nyko tried to pull his arm back though the firm hold of the man was strong enough to keep him in place.

"Please." The man murmured and barely audible, and though even when his eyes were opened in little slits Nyko noticed them the same bluish shape of the baby's.

The man groaned once more as he moved his other am and brought his other arm with the baby towards him. Nyko didn't know a lot of words in Gonasleng, but coupled with the man's movement he understood that he wanted for him to take the baby.

Carefully he lifted the tiny human being from the man's hold. He saw a chain hanging around the baby's neck with a symbol on it. He saw something sawn into the fabric and smoothed it out.

 _Clarke_

Nyko glanced back at the man only to see the lifeless eyes staring unfocused in his direction. The boy hoped that the soul of the man will find its peace and move on to the next life.

Looking back to the little child in his arms he felt something swell up in his chest as tiny fingers latched onto his hand that still touched the sewed-in name of the blanket. A small smile fell upon his lips.

Nyko didn't know where the man with the baby came from.

He didn't know how they ended up here.

But he _knew_ that he'll protect this innocent life in his arms.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Continue or not continue?**

 **I'm happy about any of your opinions. Drop a comment on your way out.**

 **Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Wow guys, I'm blown away from the positive response I've got so far! It means a lot and certainly helps finding my muse. I'd like to thank everyone who followed, favorited, reviewed and well, basically everyone who just took some time to read the words I've written.**

 **This chapter was actually written way before I wrote the prologue. The prologue got length-wise a little out of hand. Normal chapters will be shorter, around 2000 and 3000 words.**

 **This chapter starts with a time jump. Though I decided to drop a few flashbacks of Clarke's childhood on earth once and then. First flashback will be in the next chapter featuring Clarke/Nyko.**

 **Hope you like it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _Fourteen years later_

Lexa could feel the pearls of sweat running down her face as the burning sun shone down at her and the other nightbloods as they trained. As always, Lexa ignored the hot sunrays warming her skin, the pull in her muscles, her body screaming for a break.

Just like her fellow nightbloods the brunette had been in full training mode for the last two hours while Titus, their teacher and consultant of their current heda, yelled at them to improve their foot work and their stance.

Her opponent, Khalan, was just two years younger than her. The boy had short, black hair and dark brown eyes. The thin and long scar on his face gave him a dangerous look. He was quick on his feet and brutal with his sword, presenting each and every blow with a relentless strength.

Still, he was no match for Lexa.

The young girl trained to become a warrior since she was two winter's old, has been with the nightbloods since she had turned five. She was just as quick on her feet as Khalan, her slim body allowed her a certain agility the Yujleda boy lacked. Other than Khalan, Lexa worked not only with aggressive strength but also with tactic, opting to defend herself of each of the boy's hits than attacking herself. Lexa was patient, waiting until Khalan was tired out and unconfused to deliver her own attacks.

It didn't take much longer until Khalan was a breathless mess, the burning sun and the power he delivered his hits with tiring him out. Lexa bit down a smile, knowing that it wouldn't take much longer until there would be a perfect opportunity for her own attack.

A few seconds later she saw it, her chance to fight back. Khalan lifted his sword to attack her directly leaving his sides unprotected. Acting quickly, Lexa side-stepped his offensive move and swirled around, sliding her sword against Khalan's left side, causing him to scream out in surprise as spots of blackness drenched his brown sleeveless leather coat.

It wasn't a serious wound, just a mere cut deep enough to draw blood.

Khalan panted angrily as he turned back towards Lexa, readying himself for another onslaught of attacks while the brunette got into a defense stance again. Just as the boy rose his sword again, the voice of their teacher stopped the training of the nightbloods.

"Enough!"

Titus had his hands clasped behind his back standing in front of his students, his eyes taking in each of them and their appearance as they stood next to each other in a line, facing the older man and mentor. "This is enough for today. You're dismissed."

The nightbloods bowed to their teacher and made to follow the guards back towards the tower, but Titus voice rung out once again. "Lexa."

Lexa stopped and turned towards Titus again while the others continued on. Just like the older man she interlocked her hands behind her back as she waited for her teacher to speak. It was nothing new for her to stay behind. Sometimes Titus liked to have a few words with his students away from the others.

"Please, walk with me." Titus said and the two began to walk down the path the other nightbloods went down a few seconds ago, but in a slower pace. The path would lead them towards Polis, their capitol, seeing that they often trained on a plateau just outside of Polis.

Lexa adored Polis, loved to visit the market and listen to the different stories the traders told her of their travels. Since she had been living in Polis more or less her whole life, it feels like home to her. She knew every little path between the houses and every other street. She couldn't imagine living somewhere else but in Polis. The city itself served as neutral ground for all everyone, welcoming people from all clans as long as they come in peace. Every heda had to swear to treat every clan equally so that Polis remained neutral.

Though Lexa had always imagined that as heda, one could be doing so much more. Even though heda had to remain neutral, the status of heda was pretty high. If one would just put enough effort in it, Lexa was sure they could work towards a lasting peace between all of the clans and therefore create a safer life for everyone.

Yet Lexa also knew that the people were set on their believes and that it would be hard work to change them. However if Lexa would be chosen by the spirit as the next heda, she vowed to try and bring her people peace.

From experience of growing up in a village in the woods, Lexa knew that life was very dangerous for the ones living in smaller places, further apart from the bigger villages. Although there were certain dangers lurking out on the roads between the different villages and throughout the woods, Lexa enjoyed every trip that had taken her outside the walls of Polis.

As much as she loved the capital, the brunette loved to be out in the woods. She _was_ Trikru after all. Born and raised during her first five years on this earth out in the woods. The girl loved the fresh smell of the grass after a shower of rain, the melody of the wind rustling through the leaves. Feeling the sturdy bark of the trees under her fingers as she climbed higher and higher up towards the sky.

Lexa had been entranced by the sky as a little child, envying the birds which always flew so freely up in the air, having the chance to be so much closer to the beautiful stars that lightened up their night. The brunette girl had found herself often sitting under the night sky glancing up as she tried to count all the stars.

She felt free every time she was able to roam through the woods, day and night. But living in the tower had its favors. She felt so much closer to the stars now.

"You did well today." Titus praised his student, tearing her out of her thoughts.

"I just applied what you have taught us. Fighting with our head, rather than with our heart."

Titus smiled satisfied with the answer. Lexa was one of his most promising students. She would make a fine heda in the future, he was sure of it. "You're without a doubt one of the most successful students I've trained so far. There's no doubt in my mind that you will be a worthy successor of Heda Sanco when the time comes."

Lexa lifted her head proudly. "You honor me. But I am sure that Heda Sanco will have some more years to serve his people."

Titus sighed. The bald man turned his gaze away from Lexa and let his eyes roam over the outlines of Polis while deep in thought. After a beat he glanced back at the brunette nightblood. "Sadly, I don't think so. Our heda's condition worsened. His illness affects him more and more. His fight will be over sooner rather than later."

The brunette stayed silent, musing over Titus' words. It was a known fact to the nightbloods that their heda suffered of a long-lasting illness. Until now, the healers couldn't help Heda Sanco. Lexa knew that the time for the conclave was coming closer, however she was prepared for it. She only hoped the spirit of their heda thought of her as worthy enough to make her come out successful.

They almost reached the intersection that would lead them either to Polis or farther into the woods. As Lexa let her eyes glance around their surroundings she saw four riders making their way towards Polis. Her eyes widened as she recognized the rider leading their little group.

It was Anya, one of the leaders of a unit of the Woods Clan and Lexa's first.

Lexa and Anya knew each other for some years now, the older woman having shown Lexa most of her fighting technique. Anya was probably the one Lexa was the closest to. The brunette looked up to the other woman, respecting her well-thought decisions, her wise opinions and her effortlessly and elegant work with her weapons.

Back all those years ago Anya had seen something in Lexa. Something that made her worthy of becoming the leader's Second. Next to her training and lessons the nightbloods received, Lexa trained separately with Anya. The young girl trained the moment she got out of bed in the morning until late into the night.

The brunette nightblood had often accompanied Anya back to her village deep in the Trikru area, allowing Lexa to not only learn fighting skills from her first but also learn more of strategies and diplomacy. Heda Sanco taught them a lot, but being the second of a leader helped immensely to hone those skills. To not only learn the theory but make real life experiences. Lexa was thankful for those opportunities seeing that being heda didn't just mean being a good fighter.

Over the years her skills improved and the hard training got lesser and lesser. Now, she was mostly training with the other nightbloods. But every time Anya was in Polis, the two of them would train together.

She was surprised to see her mentor. She didn't know that Anya would come to Polis this soon after her last visit.

Lexa let her eyes gaze towards the other three riders. Two of the remaining riders were male, and even from this distance Lexa identified them as Anya's most trusted guards, Domica and Syros. They were always with the older blonde when they had to travel between villages or even into other clan territories.

Lexa herself had often sparred with them using the time Anya had had to respond to her duties to continue with her training. Both, Domica and Syros, were experienced warriors and had given Lexa quite the hard time during their training fights. At first Anya hadn't known that her two guards trained with Lexa, neither of them felt the need to inform her, yet Lexa's mentor had no problem putting one and one together after noticing a few little training injuries on her second or even her guards. Lexa had been surprised when the blonde warrior told her guards to not go easy on the brunette before bidding her farewell and leaving for her duties. Anya had never gone easy on her, always stating that one had to be ready for any kind of hardships that came with life.

Weak people would not last long.

Taking a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts again, green eyes gazed at the unknown fourth rider. The rider had the hood of their brown coat protectively over their head, covering the face from any onlooker they may encounter. Though the long, blonde hair and posture of the rider indicated that the rider must be female. Anya's guards rode on either side of the female rider.

For Anya to escort the female rider personally to Polis said something of the importance of the mysterious person.

"Who is she?"

Titus had noticed Lexa's confused, yet curious gaze towards Anya's little group. He had known that the female leader would arrive in Polis sometime the next days. Anya definitely arrived earlier than he had thought she would. But he knew that she was dedicated, a loyal and dutiful Trikru warrior and certainly a worthy mentor for Lexa. "A nightblood. Found in one of Anya's outer villages. Her parents hid her until one of the villagers noticed that she was a nightblood."

"Fools." Her eyes remained on the female rider. The blonde curls cascading down onto the rider's chest was nothing she had seen before. Lexa might have seen a few people with light blonde hair, but they didn't reach the brightness of the rider's hair. It was as if the sun had kissed each and every strand, making it a sun on its own. The rider carried herself proudly, yet cautiously.

"You do not have to worry about her, Lexa. You're the best of the nightbloods. She has no experience with fighting. She'll be one of the first to fall in the conclave."

That one was true. Without having received the slightest bit of training and with Heda Sanco's obvious impending demise, the girl will stand no chance. She was literally riding towards her own funeral. Her parents should have sent her to Polis as soon as they had noticed her nightblood. Now, they will be at fault for their daughter's death.

Lexa didn't pity her. She felt nothing. And she certainly wasn't worried. This girl was just one more obstacle in the conclave. One more nightblood would change nothing for her. The brunette exchanged niceties with the other nightbloods, but most of the time she was on her own. She didn't see the point in getting to know them better when they would've to kill each other in the end. Not anymore.

When they all had been younger they had spent all their time together. They were all around the same age and they have currently no one under the age limit for the conclave. Years ago they had often caused trouble for Titus. He certainly had had a hard time to get the nightbloods under control. However as they grew older they also got calmer. And with the age came the realization of their fate. Without many words Lexa had distanced herself to the others knowing that there'd be only feelings hindering her in the right moment, and that could cost the brunette her own life.

It was like Titus taught them.

Love was weakness.

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 **I'd love to hear your opinion on this chapter!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hi guys,**

 **Sorry for the wait, but I went back to work this week meaning I have less time to work on the chapters. But I finally finished the next chapter!**

 **The first part of the chapter written in italics is a flashback. Afterwards we're back to the present.**

 **I hope you'll enjoy it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 _Kneeling down onto the soft soil of the forest pushing the once clean pants into the dark green moss, the blonde girl listened carefully for any telltale sounds of another person moving through the woods. She knew he was there somewhere. She had seen his footsteps on the ground, had heard him moving between the trees. But for now all she heard was silence._

 _The hunter became the hunted._

 _Slowly Clarke moved away from her place between some gigantic, green bushes and sneaked her way through the forest, her steps barely audible though deliberately leaving prints on the forest soil. The blonde smirked, proud of her skill of moving around without leaving any sounds. She had always loved to sneak up to people._

 _After leaving enough traces of herself on the ground the blue-eyed girl circled back and almost flew over the ground until she found what she was looking for. The big, old tree would give her the perfect advantage point. Climbing quickly up the tree Clarke settled on a branch big enough to carry her weight. Now all she had to do was wait._

 _Clarke didn't know how long she had sat there up on the tree until she finally heard something. Her head snapped up when she heard the snapping of a stick. It was a rookie mistake and she didn't know if it had been made intentionally or not. Normally he wasn't someone to reveal himself like that._

 _A head with short black locks came into her view a few seconds later, blue eyes following the careful steps being made to remain silent. But it was too late for her eyes had already locked onto her target the moment she had seen him._

 _Her lips formed a triumphal smile and her eyes shone mischievously. It wouldn't take much longer and he'd be directly under the branch she was waiting on, painfully unaware of her current location._

 _Unaware of her watching his every move._

 _It only took him a few more steps to arrive at the exact spot she wanted him to be. Acting quickly Clarke got into position and took a deep breath, pushing herself off the rustic bark of the branch and letting herself fall. It wasn't a high distance, the branch having been just high enough to be out of sight._

 _The rustling of the leaves had alarmed the boy of her presence but it had been already too late, he looked up in surprise only seeing blonde, wild hair and a small body flying down towards him and in the next moment he found himself lying on the ground, breath knocked out of him by the impact of the girl's body._

 _Groaning, he opened his eyes again gazing directly into the smiling face of his best friend, a set of blue glancing happily down at him._

" _I got you!" Clarke stated smugly, not in the least bit in hurry to move off of him._

" _Please! I could've caught you two times before now. I just wanted to give you a chance."_

 _Clarke scoffed. "Keep telling yourself that."_

 _Slinging his arms around Clarke's body, the dark haired boy chanced their position in a quick move putting his right arm down onto her collar bone and his knee pushed slightly into her stomach, though not enough to cause her pain. "Back at the white stone, you've been hiding behind an oak tree. At the last clearing you've managed to find a little alcove."_

 _The blonde narrowed her eyes thinking back to these moments. She had been so sure he hadn't noticed her. She hit him into his rips as she stared grumpily up to him._

" _Hey!"_

" _Lincoln! I don't want you to just let me win! The rules are that the first one able to sneak up to the other wins. If what you say is true you've already won twice!"_

 _Lincoln was now grinning slyly at her. "I know."_

" _Urrgh, you're unbelievable!"_

 _Lincoln shrugged and moved off of her, offering her his hand to help her up from the ground. "As quiet as you might be, you're still leaving too many traces. But you're on the right way."_

 _Lincoln was a tall but scrawny boy living in the same village as her. He was around her age and they'd been friends ever since she could remember. Just like her, Lincoln was a peacefully person. Though deciding to enter the path of becoming a warrior he wasn't interested in inflicting senselessly pain. He admired Clarke's older brother, Nyko, for being a skilled warrior while never forgetting his believes and avoiding unnecessary deaths._

 _Clarke had to give it to Lincoln for being better with a sword, though she never let him forget that she was more skilled with a bow than he was. The blonde had spent quite some time laughing whenever Lincoln would lose an arrow, or if he'd actually managed to fire one she'd smirk in his direction when the arrow missed its target._

" _We should head back. We've been gone for too long." Lincoln stated as he looked up to the sky to estimate the time of the day, though the many trees didn't give a clear view._

" _You're right."_

 _The boy stepped forward to begin their walk back to the clearing where they had started their little game. He managed five steps when something suddenly caught onto his foot, sending him crashing down to the ground._

" _Did you just…?" He asked glancing up at his best friend yet already knowing the answer._

 _Clarke lifted her brow challengingly. "You know, you're really clumsy sometimes."_

 _Her uplifted lips told him everything he needed to know. Well, two could play the game. In a swift move Lincoln rolled over and shot his leg against Clarke's from behind her, watching satisfied the blonde's merciless fall onto her ass._

" _Oh, you little-"_

" _I'm not little. I'm bigger than you." Lincoln quickly pointed out._

" _Are you two done now?" A deep, calm voice interrupted their bickering. Two sets of eyes flickered over to see Nyko standing a few feet away from them, arms crossed in front of him as he stared at them unamused. "Good, then maybe we all can continue searching for the plants we have planned to collect. I've already found a few but seeing that you two seem to have enough energy left, we'll search for some more. How does that sound?"_

" _Perfect."_

" _Great."_

 _Both stated at the same time. Nyko nodded satisfied with their answer and turned around, not waiting for them as he walked carefully back to where he had come from. The moment Nyko disappeared again among the trees the two kids scrambled up and hastily followed the healer in his search for healing plants._

 _For the next hour the three moved silently through the forest, collecting different plants and herbs. Now and then Clarke and Lincoln would throw some dirt or nuts at each other, though always checking beforehand if Nyko was looking their way._

 _Lost in thoughts Clarke just climbed on a big log ready to jump down on the other side of it when suddenly a hand clasped around her arm stopping her. Surprised the blonde turned around and noticed Nyko staring at something on her forearm. When he let go Clarke lifted the arm up to see some black liquid smudging her shirt._

" _I didn't notice." Clarke breahted, immediately feeling bad for being so careless._

 _Nyko sighed, pulling out his water canteen to clean the small cut on her arm. "You need to be more careful. No one must know about this, Clarke. We've talked about this."_

 _Clarke thought back to the first moment she had seen the dark color of her blood. She hadn't watched out as she had run through the forest and had ended up stumbling down, scraping her knee. Back then she had been confused as to why her blood was black while she had often seen the blood of other people due to Nyko's occupation as a healer, and it had always been a deep red._

 _Confused and worried about the tar-like blood the blonde had made her way to her brother as fast as she could. Nyko had taken one look at her knee and had calmed down the hysterical child, gently cleaning and bandaging the wound._

 _Afterwards Nyko had told her that everything was fine, that there were people out there which had black blood, nightblood as it was called. At her question of why they had black blood instead of the normal red, her brother had only answered that just like the others with black blood, Clarke was special. But her blood would also put her in danger, so she had had to hide the fact from the others – even their parents. No one was allowed to know._

 _At that day Clarke had promised her brother that she'll be careful and that no one would ever learn of her nightblood._

 _What she didn't know back then was that life had its own plan._

* * *

Clarke stared out of the window, letting her gaze wander over the city lying beneath her. Everything looked like a miniature edition from one of the upper levels of the tower Heda Sanco and the nightbloods were residing.

She had to admit that Polis was fascinating. So many people, traders, goods. It had been exciting to ride through the busy streets, her eyes constantly moving around to take everything in. All she had known all of her life was the little village she had grown up in, and the surrounding villages. The biggest place she had ever visited with her brother, Nyko, was TonDC.

Nyko.

She missed her big brother and her parents. She had been careful like always, never showing anyone that she was a nightblood. But somehow, there must have been someone who had seen her little cut. It hadn't been a bad wound, but enough for the black liquid to make its way to the surface. She didn't know if it had been someone she knew or one of the travelers who had been staying at their village for two days.

Clarke had been obvious to the fact that she had been discovered by someone, and the next thing she knew was that warriors made their way into their little home and dragging her out, kicking and screaming. Nyko had tried to free her from the firm grip the huge men had on her, while her mother was frighteningly hurrying after them. Her father had been out in the woods to collect new firewood.

Nyko had taken down one of the men and went for the other one when a powerful voice had cut through the sunny day, ordering Nyko to stand down. Her eyes had flickered behind her and saw Anya, their leader, sitting high atop her horse, looking stoically at the scene.

The man who had held her in his grip let her go and looked after his comrade. Anya stayed on the horse while she told Clarke that she will be following her orders or else she will kill her family for her disobedience.

With nothing else left to do, Clarke had done the one thing that had ensured her family's safety. The blonde had tried to keep the tears at bay as she had hugged her mother goodbye, trying to commit her mother's looks, scent and her voice to memory.

She did the same with Nyko, relishing for the last time his strong arms around her. Those arms that always had made her feel protected from any danger, yet would not be able to continue to do so. She had squeezed him with her own arms wound tightly around his waist and had her head buried deeply into his neck.

Nyko had whispered words of reassurance into her ears, had told her that everything would be fine. Clarke had nodded then, yet both of them had known that nothing would be fine.

It had taken them four days to arrive in Polis, the blonde had followed Anya to the tower she knew the commander would be in. Curious gazes had followed her the whole way to the tower and up to the throne room. Clarke had been slightly frightened as she stood before their heda, not knowing what he would do to her for her and her family's attempt to keep her hidden from him.

Though all he had done was greeting her briefly and telling the guards to lead her to the room the nightbloods were staying in. Clarke did not once look back at the people in the throne room, feeling their glances on her had been enough.

As she had been led to the room she would be staying in Clarke had been informed that her fellow nightbloods were currently attending their last lesson of the day and would be returning to their room soon.

Clarke was glad for the short time she had for herself. She hadn't been able to be on her own since Anya and her guards had come to her home, and once she would join the other nightbloods the blonde knew that moments for herself would be rare.

She knew the predicament she was in, had seen the pearls of sweat collecting on his temple, the overall weak state of their heda despite him trying to appear as the strong and powerful man he was - or at least should be. And with her fourteen years she certainly was too old to join the others whom surely had trained for years together, placing her at a disadvantage she had no chance to change.

Her right hand reached for the pendant hanging loosely on a chain around her neck, three oval figures with sharp ends intertwined with each other. It was the only thing tying her to her unknown origin roots. Clarke sometimes found herself wondering the meaning behind the symbol, but was never able to find something out. She never took it off, though. It was a part of her past. It belonged to her, telling a story she had yet to find out.

 _If_ she would able to stay alive long enough to find out, that was.

The opening of a door drew her out of her thoughts and she turned around, her eyes wandering to the source of the noise. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the boy standing in front of the other nightbloods only two steps into the room, broad and tall. His dark eyes locked onto her own and she felt a shudder run down her back. A long scar ran from the corner of his right eye down his cheek. His whole posture radiated danger. A ray of sun shine hit his face and she was able to notice the brownish color of his eyes, though Clarke thought that the blackness suited him more.

Clarke felt like his eyes were on her for an eternity, but it really had been seconds until he turned to the right side of the room, disinterested. Her eyes stayed on him, almost as if she expected him to attack her any second. However he seemed to completely ignore her presence.

Her attention was brought back to the other nightbloods as she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Five other people had entered and though they had spread out to their own parts of the room, each of their eyes flickered over to her occasionally. Only one girl seemed curious enough to keep moving into her direction, just stopping two feet from Clarke.

The first thing Clarke had noticed about her were her fire red hair falling over her shoulders. Her brown eyes scanned her carefully from her head down to her feet. Several tribal designs marked her skin. The girl's eyes made their way up to her eyes again, a friendly yet slightly cocky smile formed on her lips. "You must be the new one. Titus already informed us of your arrival."

"I'm Clarke." The blonde nightblood said, returning the girl's smile. Maybe they weren't too mean as she had thought. Well, honestly she had no idea what to expect from the fellow nightbloods. She had just hoped they wouldn't give her a hard time while she worked out a plan to stay alive. Her eyes briefly made their way back to the tall nightblood boy whom kept ignoring her.

The red haired girl chuckled as she saw Clarke's apprehensive glance towards their fellow nightblood. "Ignore Khalan. For him you're just another threat."

Curiously, Clarke looked back to the girl. "And you don't see me like this?"

"Oh, I don't feel threatened by you. I've spent years training with the nightbloods. You're just a little girl." She replied cockily, her smile almost becoming predatory. "My name is Nadora, by the way."

"Nadora, leave the new one alone. You've got enough time to play your games." A male voice entered their conversation. A dark blonde haired boy with green eyes came into view. He was almost as tall as the one whom seemed to wear the nightblood also in his eyes, though he wasn't as defined as he was. This one was rather skinny in contrast to the other males in the room.

He smiled at her, offering his arm to greet her. "Hi, I'm Pinto. Probably the best archer you've ever laid your eyes on." He winked at her and his easy going demeanor helped Clarke to relax a little. He leant into her as if he was about to tell her a secret, though his voice was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "If you ever feel the need to have some fun or even an adventure, I'm your man. I know my way around Polis."

"I'll keep it in mind." Clarke replied, not knowing what to say else.

"I wouldn't, if you want to stay out of trouble. He's known for creating a mess. Titus has to reprimand him more often than not." A tall and slim brunette spoke up. She sat down onto one of the beds and Clarke guessed that this was her space of the room. Her hazel eyes glanced kindly to the three nightbloods standing near the window. "I'm Beori. It's nice to meet you, Clarke."

"You, too."

"Beori is right. If you want to be on the bad side of Titus, you do whatever Pinto tells you to do." Nadora said, bumping her elbow teasingly into Pinto's side.

"Hey! I'm just not as starchy as you are. A little fun never hurt, right Olev?" The blonde boy looked to a black haired boy whom sat on one of the beds near the door, a book in his hands. Olev winked briefly at Clarke and turned his attention back to his book. Pinto looked back to Clarke and shrugged, his smile never leaving his lips. "If you ever have questions about the history of Polis, the clans or anything else, Olev is your man. He's a walking history book. But too boring if you ask me."

"Maybe you should all concentrate more on your fighting skills than books and little boy's adventures. Then maybe one of you would have actually a chance at the conclave." A boy with a bald head and a short strip of black hair on the middle of his head looked over to the others. Clarke hadn't noticed him before, as unbelievable as that was. If she had thought that Khalan was huge, this boy managed to place Khalan on the second pedestal. His muscles were well-defined and he was easily one head taller than Khalan. Clarke had no doubt in her mind that he could easily take her down in a few seconds, a minute if he wanted to have his fun first.

In that moment while her eyes wandered back and forth between Khalan and this boy, Clarke knew instantly that she was utterly screwed. There was no chance that she could beat one of them in a fight, even less both of them.

"May we introduce you to Tremot, Clarke? He's one of the oldest and likes to think he's the best fighter of us." Pinto said, his eyes bore a hole into the back of Tremot. It was clear that Pinto didn't like him that much.

"I correct my earlier statement, Pinto." Tremot looked over his shoulder, a sickening smile grazed his features. "Maybe you _should_ enjoy life as long as you still can."

It was an obvious threat, though no one dared to say anything. The room fell silent as Tremot turned back around while Pinto shot daggers at him.

Beori cleared her throat trying to lighten up the mood again by changing the topic. "Which clan are you belonging to, Clarke?"

"I'm Trikru." Clarke smiled, proud of her clan. She loved her people, even if they were the reason she ended up here in Polis in the midst of the nightbloods, waiting for the impending conclave.

"Damn!" Pinto exclaimed and Nadora smirked at him.

"I expect your payment sometime this week, my friend." She replied cheekily.

"I really thought that she'd be Azgeda. I heard rumors that they have a nightblood of their own."

"If Azgeda would have a nightblood, they would be here with us, don't you think? They wouldn't pass up the chance of placing an Azgeda nightblood on the throne. Besides, I saw Lexa's First escort Clarke into Polis, meaning that she had to be Trikru." Nadora explained.

"What? You cheated!"

The red head scoffed. "If you would have kept your attention on your environment instead of searching for adventures, you would have noticed that fact."

"Who's Lexa?" Clarke blurted out. She had noticed eight beds which seemed to be occupied by the nightbloods, but there were only six of them in the room. The blonde took a wild guess at this Lexa being the seventh nightblood, with another one left for unknown reasons.

"Lexa's one of us, though she doesn't engage much with any of us. She keeps her distance." Beori replied.

Nadora snorted. "She's Titus' favorite."

Clarke could see Tremot's back stiffening. Lexa being Titus' favorite seemed to sit wrong with him. She had no doubt that he wanted to be the best of all of them, _he_ wanted to be the favorite. But he must lack something that Lexa didn't. It was obvious to Clarke that there was a certain tension between some of her _new family_.

"You'll meet her soon enough. The only free bed is actually next to hers." Pinto said and walked over to his own bed. "The other empty bed at the window is already taken by Illiams. He's with his First back within his clan's lands to celebrate some special clan day. Should be back soon, though."

Clarke had the feeling that the next few days will be quite interesting. She just hoped that they wouldn't be her last.

* * *

 **Hope you like it. Please drop a comment to voice your thoughts.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hi guys,**

 **Sorry, but it's one of the shorter chapters. Another one from Lexa's perspective, including the first real Clexa meeting!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

It was already late into the night when Lexa arrived back at the room the nightbloods resided in. She silently slipped through the door and moved towards her bed. All of the others were already asleep, even Olev whom liked to stay up late reading.

Lexa had spent the rest of the day catching up with Anya. Since she permanently lived in Polis with the nightbloods the times she had seen her First had been rather scarce. Anya's responsibilities as a leader and her own responsibilities as a child of the blood made it hard to see each other. Though Anya always said that she had taught Lexa everything she could. Lexa was a fine warrior, deadly within reach of any weapon and even without one, the brunette nightblood could easily hold her own against someone twice her size. Even if Anya never mentioned it, Lexa knew that her First was proud of her and she'll do everything to honor Anya's efforts by giving all of her for her training as a nightblood.

Still, Lexa was sad to hear that Anya would be already leaving Polis by first sunlight again.

The brunette's eyes fell on the body lying on the bed next to her own which usually was unused. The girl she had seen entering Polis with Anya and her guards slept soundly with her back to Lexa's bed, wrapped protectively in her covers, blonde hair spreading out wildly on her pillow. The girl's hair shone brightly through the night as the moonlight fell upon her, letting Lexa muse one more time how it was possible to have such a bright color of hair. If she hadn't seen Anya escorting her to Polis she would've thought her to be Sankru with the girl being the symbol of the clan herself.

Silently Lexa got under her covers and faced the cold stone wall, her back towards her brothers and sisters. As much as she didn't want to, she cared about them. Some of them she had known almost all of her life. Lexa didn't like to spend any more time with them as she had to out of precaution. Getting any more attached than she already was would only result in pain. She didn't want to, but she knew the day would come were they would all be enemies and kill each other. Sadly, she knew that day will come sooner rather than later.

With that thought she closed her eyes, leaving her worries for when she would wake up again.

* * *

As always Lexa was the first to arrive at first meal. It had become a routine for her to wake before dawn, having made the peaceful time before Polis would awake to its prime her time to run through the streets. She loved the cool morning air running through her hair while her feet dragged her along the many paths throughout Polis while the capitol still slept.

It didn't take long though for the others to arrive, their chattering carried along the hall towards Lexa. A pang of nostalgia hit her as she thought back to the time she was _with_ them out there, filling the hall with their words. When they had been younger they had spent all their time together, training, learning and, in their free time, playing pranks and causing trouble. They had been a wild bunch of kids, giving Titus quite the hard time. It had only been in the last four years Lexa had excluded herself from the others, fearing the future that will only bring death to them. They were doomed from the beginning, destined to kill their family members when the time would come. By separating herself from the others Lexa tried to lessen the impending hurt.

Her skin tingled when she thought about it.

The first to enter was Khalan whom nodded to her in greeting. Just like her, Khalan had become rather silent in the last few years. He had always been her partner in crime back then. He was the one whom always lifted her up the tree for Lexa to pick apples for them. They had pulled pranks on the vendors at the market, one distracted the merchant while the other carried out the prank. They had always confined in each other.

Things changed around the same time Lexa distanced herself from the others. Khalan had always a smile on his face, living life as it came. They had been training outside in the inner yard. Khalan had been paired with Tremot while she had trained with Illiams.

Out of the corner of her eyes Lexa had observed their fight. They had been deep into their training, both aiming to come out on top. Tremot and Khalan had always been competitive with each other, though Tremot was like that with every one of them. After some time Tremot had managed to disarm Khalan, yet he didn't stop. Tremot had swung his sword back one more time, striking the now defenseless Khalan who had tried to avoid being hit by jumping to his right. Still, Tremot's sword had drawn blood that day and Khalan wore the scar on his face that will remind him forever of this day.

Since then he had become more silent and serious. He had realized that their future was already coated in blood. Death was on its way.

The face of Tremot came into few behind Khalan, just like always showing no emotion. Tremot had never really integrated well into their little group. Even as child he had always been a loner. He was probably the most ambitioned of them all, his only goal was becoming the next heda. Being social with the other nightbloods was never on his mind. They were all only obstacles for him. An annoying presence in his life, reminding him that he wasn't the sole candidate for the position of heda.

The both boys were followed by Nadora and Olev, both nodding at her. Nadora was just as driven as Lexa was, engaging in other things in their free time from time to time all the while never losing their focus on their main goal. There had always been a silent understanding between them, a mutual respect. They were both direct and honest, even if their words hit some nerves.

Olev had always been the most silent of them. He was surely the smartest of them all, absorbing the history facts as if it was nothing, grabbing any book he could get his fingers on to learn more. In theory, he was the perfect candidate to become the new heda as he had always been the wisest of them. He thought about his actions before carrying them out.

Though, as far as his knowledge reached he lacked the needed fighting skills. Beori and Olev were their youngest ones, Olev having arrived with them only a few years ago. He missed the years of training the others had ahead of him. His parents had tried to hide his nightblood, but as Lexa knew it would always come to light sooner or later. Parents wouldn't do their child any good by hiding them from the people.

The last three nightbloods entered the room, Beori and Pinto on either side of their new addition. Both of them were the most cheery ones of their group. Beori and Pinto reminded Lexa often of Khalan and herself. They had been just as joyful and adventurous as they were. But they still didn't lose sight of their goal. Beori got better and better in their training sessions, keeping up easily with the others, even if she lost more fights to the older ones than she probably liked.

Pinto was the same, working to get better each time they trained together. Though his talent at archery was better than his sword skills. He was an excellent archer, his aim outstanding. He never missed a target. Lexa had no doubt that if he wouldn't be a nightblood, the blonde boy would have become an admirable hunter.

Just like Illiams was one. However he was more often with his First back with his clan than he was here with them in Polis. Though the brunette guessed that with Heda Sanco's steadily worsening state his time with his First will be cut off, Titus will probably demand the boy's presence from now on.

Illiams wasn't the best fighter within them, though not the worst either. He was compassionate and preferred the bow than the sword. However he was the best of them learning Gonasleng. But since Illiams wasn't often with them, Lexa couldn't keep up with his skills and process, meaning that he was a wild card.

Lexa's eyes fell upon the face of the girl she had yet to meet officially. The first thing she noticed were her trademark blonde locks falling flawlessly over her shoulders. The little dimple in her chin was the first her eyes laid upon as they slowly worked their way up. Her thin and soft looking lips were pulled up in an amused smile as she listened to Pinto's tale. Following up her thin button nose Lexa was met with a pair of sky blue eyes. She was caught off guard by their pureness. It was like she was looking up to the cloudless sky with all its possibilities.

It didn't take long until those blue eyes glanced at her and Lexa felt her heart beat faster. She felt like the girl was looking right through her carefully built exterior, seeing all her secrets and emotions without any troubles. Still, Lexa didn't squirm under her gaze but kept her mask firmly in place and stared challenging at her. She would not be the one to break their eye-contact first.

"Hey, Lexa! Where've you been? Did you spent the night in someone else's bed?" Pinto smirked. From time to time one or even more of them spent their nights somewhere else. They may be destined to become the next heda, but they also were teens with certain needs. Much to Titus' dismay, though after some time they learned to cover themselves up. In the last year he had no real evidence of the uncomplete number of nightbloods at night so that he had no real funding for a punishment.

"I turned in very late, but not late enough to miss your loud snoring, Pinto." Lexa replied drily, earning an amused chuckle from the others.

The blonde archer pouted at her statement. "Aren't you funny?"

"She isn't joking. You're always loud. Even while sleeping." Nadora remarked glancing unamused at her nightblood brother.

Pinto flushed, clearing his throat he grabbed a plate and started to shove food on it. "Well, since you came back so late I guess you haven't met Clarke, yet."

Lexa's eyes instantly flew back to the blonde whom just sat down with her own plate next to Beori and Olev. Blue eyes met her green ones again and Clarke smiled slightly at her. Lexa nodded briefly. "Welcome, Clarke."

"Thanks."

The rest of their meal was spent in silence, every one preparing for the events of a new day full of training and learning. Together they made their way towards the throne room for the first lesson of the day. Although Heda Sanco's health wasn't the best anymore he still spent some time to teach the nightbloods, albeit the time they were spending together grew shorter and shorter each day.

Each of them entered the throne room, Titus nodding briefly at them before he left the room and Heda Sanco put his whole attention on them. Heda Sanco was a strict man and teacher, more so than Titus was. He never lied to them and told them the hard facts of life, death and all in between.

Lexa sat a little off the side, listening intently to Sanco as he told them some more about strategies and the different clans. Once and then Lexa's eyes moved to the right side towards Clarke. The blonde girl completely concentrated on their heda, though Lexa noticed Clarke's analyzing gaze on Sanco. No doubt she had noticed his health condition.

At least the blonde appeared to see that the time to learn to survive was limited, Lexa thought as she looked back to Heda Sanco.

If she'll learn quickly, she'll have a chance.

* * *

 **Hope you liked it.**

 **Next chapter will be Clarke's first training session with the nightbloods. And another flashback.**

' **Til then, I wish you a great time!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hi guys,**

 **I hurried….. and had nothing else to do :)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 _Clarke smiled as she tilted her head back to gaze up to the sky. The hot summer days have long since bid their goodbyes, turning into something dark grey with big angry clouds decorating the once blue sky._

 _It had been a few lousy days lately. The pouring rain had downright stopped the busy life of their village as everyone preferred to stay inside their homes. Only the ones whom had to go out left the dry and warm houses. Thus for Clarke the last few days had been boring as hell._

 _Finally, after way too long the rain had stopped and a few sunrays broke their way through the still heavy clouds. More and more people dared their way out of their house and engaged in the day to day life again._

" _Clarke!"_

 _Her smile widened when she heard the familiar voice of her best friend. She had missed his company the last few days. When the bad weather had hit at first Clarke was staying busy by helping her parents with their work, helping her father cleaning the hut and collecting a few utensil her mother could take with her to trade for her next trip to TonDC. Now and then the blonde had stolen away to accompany Nyko who visited a few of his patients._

 _Two days later Lincoln had left with a few others for a hunt, leaving early in the morning and coming back when the moon had hung high on the sky – if one had been able to see it through the clouds._

 _So after not having seen each other for so long Clarke was happy that normalcy seemed to set in again. Turning around to greet her best friend Clarke faltered the moment she saw him grinning widely at her. "What the hell happened, Lincoln?!"_

" _What do you mean?" Lincoln replied confused, not knowing what the blonde was talking about._

" _Your hair?"_

 _Eyes gleaming excitingly as he swept his hand over his head – his now bald head. Gone were his wild, black locks Clarke used to mock him about when they had been little kids running around aimlessly._

" _Oh yeah,_ that _."_

" _What? Has there been a raid at your camp and someone stole your hair?"_

" _Ha ha, very funny. I just decided that it was time for a change."_

" _Why?"_

 _The twinkle in his eyes was back and his lips turned upwards again. Whatever it was, it had to be good. "Dalan and the others deemed me ready to lead my very first hunt."_

" _You led the hunt?"_

" _Yes." He replied proudly._

 _Clarke stared at him unbelieving. "And no one died?"_

" _Please, Clarke. Have a little faith in me."_

" _I do have faith in you. But I also know your skill with the bow." The blonde smirked._

 _Well, Clarke shouldn't be so surprised. Lincoln was becoming to be one of the best trackers of their village, and his instincts were very good. Albeit being better with a sword than with a bow and arrow, she knew that he was on his way to become a formidable hunter. Besides they were now old enough to take over more serious work. Dalan, one of their best hunters, would've been an idiot not to give Lincoln the chance to prove himself._

 _A warmth spread out through her body feeling proud of her best friend's accomplishment._

" _Does that mean we'll only have a little squirrel for dinner?" She teased him, earning herself an eye-roll from the boy._

 _Squaring his shoulders, Lincoln stared contently at the blonde. "I'll have you know that we brought back two deer."_

" _Way to go! I'm proud of you."_

" _Thanks, Clarke. I'll get my very first tattoo to mark this achievement tomorrow."_

" _Great, that means you have time for me today." Clarke stated and took Lincoln's hand dragging him away from the village, only once looking back at him after noticing the glances some of the girls around their age were throwing at Lincoln who'd just shrugged back at her though his smile was ever present._

 _The two slowly made their way through the woods until they arrived at the spot they always deposited their bows and arrows. Lifting a brow Lincoln glanced at Clarke._

" _What? Someone has to make sure you'll be not a complete failure as a shot. And then I at least can brag to the others that_ I'm _the one having taught you to hold a bow correctly – and not lose the arrow before even firing it."_

" _Clarke, that only happened once! Two years of ago!" Lincoln complained lightly._

" _So what? It could have been a decade and I'd still remind you of that."_

" _You're mean."_

 _Clarke shrugged. "I'm your best friend. I'm meant to give you shit." Readying her bow, Clarke placed the arrow and prepared to shoot it at the makeshift target they had hung up on a tree. Taking a deep breath the blonde let go of the arrow, smirking when seconds later the arrow hit the middle of the target._

 _Turning around Clarke was waiting for Lincoln to line up and take his shot when she was suddenly hit with met with a huge pile of mud smeared directly in the middle of her face by her best friend himself._

" _Really?" Clarke glared deadpanned at Lincoln ignoring the drops of dirt running down her face, falling off of her face and onto her clothes._

 _Lincoln smirked amused, barely holding back the laughter. "What? You just stated that best friends were there to give each other shit. You should be happy that it was no real shit."_

 _Putting her bow away Clarke quickly filled her hands with as much mud as she could and threw it at Lincoln, hitting him fully on the head. "Oh yeah, that comes really close to your earlier looks."_

" _You're so on." Lincoln declared and lunged at his friend who let out a shriek and took off, trying to get away from Lincoln and into safety. She ran as fast as she could only looking back now and then to see if her friend was still chasing after her. After a few more steps the blonde realized the missing presence of the boy and turned around._

 _There wasn't a soul in sight. No sound indicated of any other presence among the trees than her own. Exhaling relieved Clarke was startled by a literal war cry and was tackled to the ground from the right side. Two bodies rolled down a little mound and ended up in a pile of mud._

 _Sitting up the two friends stared at each other, both equally covered in mud from head to toe. They really were a sight for sore eyes. After a beat both broke out in loud laughter. A few minutes later they recovered from their laughing fit and Clarke looked down at her, her eyes flickered up to meet Lincoln's only a moment later. "Our parents are going to kill us."_

 _Silence overcome the two friends before it was broken again by their laughs._

 _Clarke had really missed her best friend._

* * *

" _Strik skaifaya!" Nyko's calm voice greeted her as Clarke opened the door and entered the house. Her parents where nowhere to see, only Nyko was there sitting with his back to her at the table studying some maps from what Clarke could tell. "I'm planning my new trip to fetch some plants. I'm heading further up towards the border to Azgeda since some of the plants are rather rare and only growing in colder regions. I'd like for you to accompany me." Nyko turned around with a big, excited smile doubtlessly caused by his impending trip that will surely take a few days. However, as soon as his brown eyes laid themselves on her figure that smile was quickly wiped away, leaving a frown in its place. "What happened?"_

" _I'm innocent!" Clarke immediately spoke out._

" _You're always innocent. Just like Lincoln always states that_ he's _innocent." He shook his head and sighed. "You two are pure trouble on legs. What is it this time? Did you two decide that our food isn't good enough for you anymore?"_

 _Clarke huffed. "Aren't you funny?"_

 _Loud laughed boomed through the room. "I'm just trying to see the reason."_

" _There is no reason. Lincoln started it."_

" _I have a hard time believing that." He eyed her meaningful. And yes, maybe Clarke wasn't a saint. She and Lincoln had played their fair share of pranks, but she liked to believe that now they were a little bit more grown up. She just couldn't help it when trouble followed them._

" _Go, wash up. Before our parents mistake you for one of the pigs and sent you to the stables to sleep."_

 _Grumpily, Clarke made her way over to their wash room to get rid of her dirty clothes and the many mud strains on her body, deliberately ignoring the amused smirk of her brother._

* * *

The only thing Clarke felt at the moment was pain.

Everywhere.

It was her first training session with the nightbloods and she already lost count how many times she landed defenseless on the ground. The blonde got paired up with Nadora who didn't appear to go easy on her. Clarke stood no chance against her.

It wasn't that Clarke had never held a weapon in her hands before. There were quite a few times she sparred with her childhood friend, Lincoln, who was rather talented with a sword. She even trained some with her older brother, Nyko. However Clarke's main focus had always been her training at becoming a healer just like Nyko. She loved to help people and couldn't fathom ever killing someone, despite the troubling times they were living in.

Clarke was skilled enough to protect herself but not against experienced warriors.

The blonde parried Nadora's next chain of attacks as fast as she possibly could, yet again it wasn't good enough. The red head used her opportunity and swung at Clarke's unprotected left side, hitting her hard with the training sword to surely leave a stinging bruise to nurse later on. Not that one more bruise to her growing collection made any difference.

"Dead." Nadora taunted her, lifting her brow challenging. It was clear that she was rather bored with her session with Clarke. "Again."

"You need to be quicker on your feet, Clarke. Your arms are also not moving fast enough. A slow warrior is a dead warrior. Be faster!" Their teacher, Tristan, advised her.

Tristan was rather ripped, his hits had quite the strength in them. As Clarke had watched him train against Tremot she realized that she would never want to be on his bad side, seeing that Tremot himself had a hard time to defend himself from the incoming strokes.

He was unforgiving and direct, ordering Nadora to not hold back. She had heard that Tristan was one of the best warriors of Trikru and would no doubt be a great general one day. Clarke also noticed his annoyance at her lack of skills. She clearly was more of a nuisance for him than anything else.

Nadora helped her up and they started again. Like all the other times Nadora attacked and Clarke defended. At least she was trying to, but the hits came to fast and Clarke couldn't keep up and took a hit her cheek, drawing a little blood.

Tristan sighed annoyed. "Enough! We're done for now. I'll see you tomorrow."

The nightbloods wordlessly put away their training swords and moved to leave the training areal, this time Clarke trailed silently after the others putting her hand on the little cut on her cheek to stop the bleeding. It was nothing serious and she knew that the bleeding would stop soon and the wound will heal pretty quickly, though right now it was pounding uncomfortably and the dark liquid was running through her fingers.

Clarke noticed that Lexa was suddenly missing from the group and looked around the halls but couldn't find her anywhere. She observed how Tremot and Nadora also slipped from their group and remembered that they wouldn't have any lessons until this evening, meaning that they were free to do what they pleased.

Deciding to follow the rest of the nightbloods back to their dorm to change and clean the little cut, Clarke opted to spend her free time exploring the capitol. Since Clarke and her family lived in one of the outer villages of the Trikru it offered not many opportunities to travel this far just for fun. Normally the vendors in TonDC had everything they needed.

Polis was an interesting part in their culture.

All clans were in a constant quarrel with each other, pride and selfishness between the different leaders prevented a life in peace. Raids and attacks at the border areas were common, threats of war a daily possibility. Especially to those bordering on Azgeda often feel the cruelty of the Ice Queen.

But life in Polis was a great example for a life in peace. Though the city was located on Trikru land it really was neutral land. People of all clans were living and working side by side without the animosity the clan leaders set the examples on. Polis was almost a clan of its own. The city had its own law, guards and was ruled by the current heda and had its own symbol, two different sized circles with a variety of lines crossing through them; the symbol of the heda.

Polis wasn't really the capitol in the sense of the main city of all of the clans but rather the largest one in their lands with the biggest economy. The city was open for all of the clans thus having been dubbed the _capitol_.

Another characteristic feature was the huge tower in the middle of Polis. It was the first thing one saw on their way to the big city, just like Clarke herself had gaped at its size the closer she had gotten. Clarke had heard that the city itself was arranged after the heda's symbol; the tower stood proudly in the middle, two straight roads led from south to north and east to west of the city. The area between the circles was occupied by the many vendors, workplaces and the homes of the citizen of Polis. The huge stone wall around Polis marked the outer circle.

Clarke blended in in the busy street, one body of many walking through Polis minding her own business. Her eyes widened as she kept surveying the variety of the offered goods by the many vendors. The finest furs of Azgeda, different fish from Podakru, a wide range of killed game and other food from different clans, a pottery, some artists marking the skin of their customers, a few blacksmiths. There was everything one could need – or didn't.

The blonde nightblood stopped at a small booth filled with different colors, her eyes set on a bowl filled with an odd color. It was bluish, yet almost white. It appeared to be a special brand of color, one that wasn't easily found.

"Cover it with your hands."

Blue eyes snapped up and met the brown ones of the trader of those colorful goods. She hesitated but the encouraging smile the man sent her way coaxed her in following his advice and she moved her hands over the bowl. Bright, blue light shimmered through her fingers and Clarke looked up amazed by the effect, never having seen such a glow from a simple color.

The vendor laughed heartily at her stunned expression. "It's made by the powder of a special kind of butterfly found in a specific area. Every year before the beginning of winter the butterflies shed their wings and embed themselves very deep into the still soft ground. Down there they lay larvae and die after a while. While the snow covers the ground the larvae take their time to grow, using the nutrients stored deep down in the earth. As soon as the snow leaves the ground the larvae hatch and rise from the earth to fly through the forest until the next winter arrives."

"Really?" Clarke had never heard of those butterflies and pondered if those butterflies were living in the woods of Trishana. The clan was known for their many plants that glowed brightly. "I'm sure it is a beautiful sight."

"It is." The vendor smiled, a faraway expression in his eyes. It was obvious that he was thinking back to a fond memory. "I was travelling through the different clans back then. I underestimated the distance to the next village and had to set up camp in the middle of the forest. Nothing I like to do, let me tell you. I'm no warrior and travelling alone is always dangerous these times, especially resting in the middle of the forest while anyone could've robbed me, or even killed me in my sleep. Anyway, I was sleeping against a big tree and I woke up by some game that had been moving through the woods. Though as I opened my eyes I was met by the brightest blue light I've ever seen. I was surrounded by hundreds of those butterflies. They lit up the whole area as if it was the middle of the day. I've never seen anything more beautiful than this." The man chuckled. "Besides my wife, that is."

Clarke laughed at his statement while her eyes moved back down to the glowing blue bowl. She wished she could see those butterflies with her own eyes, being surrounded by them. Yet she knew that this would never happen. She was bound to stay where she was, here in Polis with the other nightbloods. Anya had been clear with her threat that if she should ever try to leave that her family would pay the price, the blonde leader even told her that they were only remaining alive to have leverage over the young girl. She loved her family too much to put them into harm's way.

"I'm Muele kom Yujleda. I've been living in Polis for the last three years." The vendor told her. He seemed nice, his appearance wasn't so forceful like most of the traders. His short brown locks where intertwined messily with each other, giving him a youthfulness beyond his years.

"I'm Clarke kom Trikru. It's nice to meet you, Muele."

"Based on the pure look of wonder on your face early I guess you haven't been long in Polis?"

Clarke briefly glanced down, shaking her head. "I've just arrived yesterday."

"For trading purposes? Or are you visiting a friend?"

"Let's say, I moved here and will live in Polis for an unforeseen amount time." Clarke exclaimed, trying to find the fine line between the truth and a lie. Out of experience she knew that people started to treat one different when they knew that their counterpart was a nightblood. Clarke didn't want that wishing she was still the normal girl who trained to become a healer.

"Well, if you are in any need of information about Polis, you know where to find me. I'll be glad to help you."

The blonde smiled gratefully at him, wondering if she made her very first friend in Polis. Sure, there were the nightbloods but could she see them as her friends? There were more like a little, unconventional family bonded by their black blood, and Clarke was sure that if it was for that fact they wouldn't spend any time together. They were all her for one reason. To train, to learn and eventually become heda, herself included.

The only down part was that only one would live to reach their goal.

And right now, based on the results of her very first training with the nightbloods her chances weren't any good.

* * *

 **Hope you liked it. Have a great weekend!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hi guys,**

 **Once again I want to give a big shout out for anyone who had reviewed, followed and favorited so far. I haven't been this excited about writing a story in a long time and that's all because of you and your kind words. I honestly try to update as soon as I can just so I get the chance to read your opinion on my story. I'm sure without you I wouldn't post a new chapter that quickly after the other.**

 **Enjoy the update!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 _Thick shoes covered up with snugly warm fur trekked through the snow coated ground, leaving deep foot prints in the snow. Heavy fur coats protected them from the icy weather. Up here the thick forest had thinned out only leaving a few trees here and there, instead the number of naked, rocky stones increased._

 _They were moving through Azgeda territory, though close to the border to Trikru and in an area not used frequently by Azgeda seeing that the game chose to stay within the forest for protection. Out here the animals would be easy targets._

 _At the beginning they had toed along the border to Azgeda on their search for the plants Nyko and her had set out for. After two days Clarke had thought that they had found enough to last for a while but was surprised when Nyko had decided to continue on with their trip. Clarke had been even more surprised when Nyko had led them away from the border and further into Azgeda lands. The conflict between Azgeda and Trikru was becoming steadily worse and the blonde wasn't keen on meeting any Azgeda warrior._

 _However Clarke trusted her brother and she knew that he wouldn't risk their lives just like that. Clarke eyed the bag hanging from Nyko's shoulder filled with several herbs and plants, including the rare ones he had wanted so much. She doubted that he was actually searching for more plants. Nyko moved too determined and his eyes never strayed over the ground to look out for more plants while Clarke silently trotted after him._

 _After another few minutes Clarke finally picked up her pace and moved to walk directly next to Nyko, her eyes gazing at him to search for any indication of why they kept moving deeper into Azgeda territory. But his focus never pulled away from the path. "Where are we going?"_

" _To a place I've been before."_

" _I didn't know you know someone in Azgeda?" Clarke stated confused. The blonde knew that Nyko's trips often take a few days until he arrived back home, she herself didn't accompany her brother as often as she would like. But someone had to help their parents with their work and Nyko was often busy with his work as a healer. That left Clarke to help their parents so she couldn't just leave with her brother for a few days. However her brother had always shown her the route he would take, the general area he'd be in and what plants and herbs he was planning to get._

 _Never once had Clarke seen him moving through Azgeda._

" _We're not visiting anyone." Nyko replied._

" _Where are we going then?"_

" _We're going to a place that's very special for me. Though I've only been there twice. I want to show it to you."_

 _Nyko's answer didn't help Clarke at all to find out where they were going to, though it seemed that it meant a lot to her brother. Keeping her eyes on their surroundings the blonde continued to follow her brother wordlessly while still trying to think of the place Nyko could mean._

 _It didn't take much longer actually. Another half an hour brought them to their destination – at least Clarke thought so since Nyko slowed down until he stopped completely a few steps later. He calmly stared at something at the foot of the mountain, but Clarke didn't see anything out of place. Just stones and a few plants and bushes._

 _The blonde moved from one leg onto the other waiting patiently for Nyko to start talking. Until now she had no idea what there was that could possibly make this place_ special _._

" _I'd like to think that this is the place my life changed forever."_

 _Blue eyes flickered over to Nyko's tall figure waiting to see if he'll continue without her prodding. After a beat Clarke noticed that he was deep in thought so she gently brought him back to the present by finally asking. "What had happened here?"_

" _This is the place where I've found you all those years ago." Nyko breathed and turned around, smiling softly at his little sister._

 _Clarke's eyes widened at his statement. She knew that she had been found by Nyko as a baby and he and his family never hesitated taking her in –_ herfamily _never hesitated. Back then Clarke had asked herself often what may have happened to her real family, where had she come from and had there been someone searching for her, though after some time the blonde had just shrugged the questions off of her. She couldn't change the past and fortunately she had found a good family to grow up in._

 _She had found a home._

 _When her family had told her of her origins they had shown her the little blanket she had been covered up with as a baby, and that the name sewn in in the blanket was the reason they had called her_ Clarke _. The only other thing that had been on her as a baby was the chain she had worn all her life._

 _Those two items were the only things connecting her to her mysterious origin. Clarke still had them as a token for her past, but they will never change the fact that Nyko and his parents were her family._

" _You found me in Azgeda?!" That was actually the first thing shooting through her head. Like all Trikru she grew up with an obvious distain for their violent neighbors. Having Azgeda roots would certainly make her life interesting._

 _An Azgeda child growing up in Trikru._

" _We had been out hunting and I admit that we had crossed the border to Azgeda despite the orders of our leader. Not far from here we had set camp for the night. I had strayed away. A loud noise drew me here." Nyko told her. Once again he looked towards the foot of the mountain. Glancing back at her he nodded towards the mountain. "Why don't you go and take a closer look?"_

" _At the bush?"_

" _It's not everything as it seems." Nyko replied mysteriously._

 _Clarke narrowed her eyes but did as he said and inched closer towards the mountain, closer to the place a huge bush was located. Stepping closer to it Clarke detected something underneath it, something greyish and dull._

 _Pushing away the little green leaves and sticks Clarke uncovered the strange object seemingly hiding behind the bush. Uncertain the blonde glanced back at her brother who nodded encouragingly for her to continue. More and more of the grey surface came into sight._

" _What is this?" Clarke asked in wonderment._

" _This is where I had found you in."_

 _The blonde stared at every inch of the box. "In? As in inside?"_

" _Yes, I think I may have opened it somehow when I touched it." Nyko nodded as he watched closely Clarke inspecting the box. Her movements reminded him of his own all those years ago. "Inside was a man."_

 _That got Clarke's attention and her focus immediately shifted back to her brother._

" _At first I had thought that he was dead. There had been so much blood. Like any curious, young child I had rummaged through the box searching for any useful item. There had been nothing. I had just wanted to get out again and leave, go back to the camp before they'd start searching for me, when I had noticed some movement from the corner of my eyes. And there you have been, safely cradled in the arms of the man."_

 _Clarke hung at every word that came over Nyko's lips, enthralled in the story he was telling her._

" _The next thing I knew the man – who I had thought was dead – had grabbed onto my arm. The sudden touch had startled me, but I wasn't scared. There had been something about the man which made me feel like I could trust him. Then he had started talking. He had spoken in Gonasleng."_

 _Gonasleng? Like the Mountain Men? Where did she come from? Nyko had found her in Azgeda. Yet this box didn't seem to belong to Azgeda. It looked out of place. And the man spoke in Gonasleng? Questions upon questions filled Clarke's mind._

" _I didn't understand every word he had said to me. I have been too young back then. But I had understood the meaning behind his words. He handed you to me and I carefully moved you into my arms. Just seconds later the man had taken his last breath. Afterwards I had quickly made my way back to the camp. I've never told anyone about the box, fearing that they'd reject you. As soon as I could I had sneaked out and made my way back here. I had pulled out the man and burned his body to set his soul free and hid the box as good as I could."_

 _Clarke's hand moved over the cold, smooth surface of this big, metallic box. Blue eyes flickered up the mountainous area further up the hill. She contemplated Nyko's words but she couldn't imagine that the box was originally located at the top of the stony mountain. As far as she could see there wasn't anything up there indicating life. One would have to climb rather high to get to the top. That would be a difficult task in itself but with a baby?_

 _But where did this box come from? And why had she been inside of it, safely wrapped up in the arms of a man whom potentially could've been her real father?_

 _Dozens of questions ran through her mind as she tilted her head once again to stare up into the sky, as if she could find any answers up there, now more confused as ever._

* * *

The sun was already setting when Clarke arrived back at the tower, later than she had intended yet still early enough for their lesson with the flamekeeper, Titus. She had met the bald man first when Anya had led her towards the throne room upon her arrival in Polis, the man standing proudly next to Heda Sanco with a stoic expression. Just like the heda, Titus had eyed her carefully as if to assess her. The blonde knew damn well that no one in Polis was happy about the late discovery of her nightblood, the fact that her family was still alive despite having hidden a nightblood from them was a wonder on its own.

Slowly Clarke walked along the hall trying to remember to path to the room the lesson would take place in. Knowing that it was one of the rooms in the upper levels of the tower Clarke made her way to the elevator, choosing to try her luck on the same level their dorm was located in. Maybe she would see the others and just follow them.

As the doors opened and Clarke stepped out she had to discover that her luck didn't seem to be on her side seeing that the hall appeared to be empty. She couldn't even see one of the guards somewhere close by. The blonde choose to move to the right, hoping the room would be in that direction. She cursed herself for not asking one of the nightbloods for a little tour through the tower instead of discovering Polis.

Clarke arrived at an intersection of hallways leading further into the tower level and she got the feeling that she'll likely end up lost regardless which way she'd choose. Biting her lower lip nervously Clarke knew she most certainly won't be on time for their lesson. Sighing, the blonde nightblood chose the hall to her right but stopped immediately when she saw a flash of familiar long, brown hair and a regal looking person move at the other end of the middle hall.

Breaking out in a slight jog Clarke tried to catch up to the person she was sure to be Lexa. The girl moved with steadily long steps down the hall and Clarke called out to her to wait, yet the brown haired nightblood appeared to not hear her – or chose to, at least.

She picked up her pace and quickly caught up to the other girl. "Lexa wait!"

A slight yet noticeable drop of Lexa's shoulders and the annoyed sigh that had been barely audible let Clarke know that Lexa must have indeed ignored her earlier call. Slowly Lexa turned around waiting for Clarke to close the remaining distance between them until the blonde stood three steps in front of Lexa. "You're late."

"We're both late." Clarke stated.

"Yes, because you delayed me."

Clarke grew irritated by Lexa. It was obvious that the girl didn't like her and Clarke put her into the same drawer as Khalan and Tremot. "I'm sorry if I got you into trouble."

Forest green eyes stared stoically at her and Clarke had no idea what could be going on in the brunette's head. Probably a string of curse words. Wordlessly Lexa turned around and moved further along the hall, Clarke trailing after her silently.

As expected the lesson had already begun and Titus looked anything else but happy of their tardiness. The lesson was about Gonasleng and Clarke was happy to say that she knew already enough about the language to easily keep up with the others.

Having lived in a rather remotely village and wanting to become a healer like Nyko, her brother had stated that it may help to teach her Gonasleng. It never hurt to learn more than expected, he had told her then. Nyko had always been her hero so little Clarke had eagerly taken on everything he did, and she still looked up to him. Her big brother with a good heart and an inner strength she could only hope to archive to have herself sometime in the future.

He also taught her about patience and good behavior and she thanked him for that since it was the only reason she kept her mouth shut about Lexa's irritating behavior.

Another thing she noticed during the lesson was that Lexa appeared to really be Titus' favorite, his eyes always had a slight twinkle of pride in them when he glanced at her. Though the more Titus' did so the mood of Tremot considerably worsened with every glance, the older boy shot daggers with his eyes at Lexa's back now and then. There definitely seemed to be tension between them, though more so from Tremot than from Lexa who obviously ignored him.

Ignoring people must be a hobby from her, Clarke thought sarcastically.

The lesson ended differently than the one with Tristan, Clarke's strength pretty much laid in the theory aspect of their training just like Olev's. The only difference between was that the boy was definitely better in close combat than she was. Maybe she should put in some extra hours of sword training. Right now, she was not looking forward to their next lesson with Tristan.

Titus gave both, Clarke and Lexa, a quick reprimand for their lateness before dismissing them however his glare was solely resting upon the blonde making it clear that he didn't blame Lexa as much as he did her. Now she understood the annoyance of the others about Lexa's position as Titus' obvious protégé.

Not wanting to return to the nightbloods room just yet Clarke opted to get acquainted with the tower to avoid a situation like today. The next two hours were spent discovering the tower, starting with the first levels and then moving to the upper levels. Clarke spoke to some of the guards, but only the ones whom seemed to be always close to their sleeping quarters. It wasn't easy but she thought that she was getting the hang of the many hallways and rooms. The blonde planned to organize some papers and coal to draw a map the next time she'd be out in Polis.

Most of the inhabitants of the tower had already retired for the night, leaving only some guards. She turned around a corner making her way towards the room of the nightbloods as she crashed directly into something massive and ended painfully up on the floor.

"It seems you like to find yourself in the dirt, little girl." A deep, jeering voice rung out.

Clarke looked up and saw Tremot standing in front of her his body big enough to block her path to their shared room, the mocking smirk in place as he stared down at her. The fellow nightblood made no move to help the blonde up, opting to stay where he was as he chuckled and crossed his arms.

"An honorable warrior would at least help a person up." Clarke couldn't help but scoff at him as she got up from the floor, trying to shorten the height difference but still came up shorter than him. "But I get the feeling you know nothing about honor, do you?"

Okay, maybe she shouldn't have said that to Tremot, having gotten to know him to be hot-heated and aggressive, and taunting him wouldn't help her in this situation. At night there were fewer guards around and right where there were, Clarke knew the two nightbloods were alone.

The confirmation of her assessment came in form of his flaring nostrils and his angry, darkening eyes as he uncrossed his arms and made himself even bigger than he already was. Clarke woke the beast and now she had to deal with the consequences.

She knew the best thing she should do was to bolt the other way and try to lose him somewhere in the hallways of the tower and hope he'll calm down after some time and continue to dislike her from a distance, yet the only thing Clarke did was build herself to her full height and squared her shoulders, ready to deal with her brother in blood and prove that she wasn't someone to be pushed around.

She just hoped she didn't make a mistake.

* * *

Lexa calmed her breathing as she elegantly swung the sword in what appeared to be a series of throughout well placed hits. There was something comforting to be out training after the sun set for the day the cool air of the night engulfing every inch of her body, the only thing the brunette could hear were her calm breathes.

It wasn't long until Lexa called it a night and packed up here training utensils and moved through the empty streets of Polis. On her way back to the tower the brunette met a few familiar faces she which she nodded at in greeting. It was a normal sight to see the nightblood at this time of the hour out by herself. After spending most of her life in Polis she knew the capitol good enough to move comfortably alone, the guards at the entrance of the tower were used to her presence this late of the day. Though Titus didn't like it when the nightbloods were outside of the tower without proper security.

Yet, what Titus didn't know….

Quietly moving through the halls of the tower towards the quarters of the nightbloods, Lexa nodded at some of the guards patrolling the upper levels. One or two of them she knew since she was a little kid, running havoc and causing them trouble. Somehow they were her family.

Lexa didn't remember much of her parents. Her black blood was discovered very early on after her birth and she spent only the first three years with them before she had been taken from them, not seeing them ever since. A few years ago Anya had told her that her father had died after some bandits had raided her birth village, though it was only a brief moment during a training session and Lexa just took note of it and continued her training. After all those years she could sadly state that her parents were strangers to her, just two other people of Trikru. She didn't know whether her mother was still alive or not.

It wasn't like she didn't care about the fate of her parents, like anyone she was quite curious of them. She had often asked herself obvious questions like what they were looking like, if her mother was a kind woman and her father a skilled warrior, maybe they were farmers, did they have more children and Lexa often imagined during her earlier years in Polis and as Anya's Second what it would have been if she had stayed with them. However over the years she spent less and less time thinking about what if's and concentrated fully on her training. She couldn't indulge herself in little fantasies as such, especially not now when the conclave seemed in the near future.

The brunette entered the long hall leading towards the room as she could see Tremot towering over their newest addition ready to pounce. The blonde, _Clarke_ , Lexa reminded herself, stood stubbornly her ground in front of the huge male nightblood. Lexa almost had to grin at the sight, a small girl against the brute of a man. It reminded her of an old story she had read once, David versus Goliath.

Although Lexa guessed that this time the bigger and stronger one will indeed come out victoriously. She had seen the blonde's skills in fighting, or lack thereof. Though she had to admit that she admired Clarke's courage, even if it was a foolish one.

Perhaps Clarke wasn't as weak as she had first thought. Her strength just laid somewhere else. She was certain that with a little help the girl may become a worthy opponent sooner or later.

Picking up her pace Lexa moved between her fellow nightbloods and kept the following fight from breaking out, putting herself in front of the blonde glaring at the boy. "Is there any problem, Tremot?"

Tremot's glare redirected at Lexa, yet kept himself as tall as he could. In turn Lexa also squared her shoulders, lifted her head and stared emotionless at Tremot. There was a certain authority radiating from Lexa. The two nightbloods were caught up in a staring contest, a battle of wills. Though Lexa knew that it won't be her who'd give in, and if Tremot knew when it was a good time to pick a fight and when not, he'll give in.

What seemed like hours but in reality were only seconds, Tremot's shoulders dropped a little and his breathing calmed down. He lifted his head and looked stubbornly at the brunette in front of him before he glanced back at Clarke. "You shouldn't roam through the halls that late in the night. You never know who you might meet, little girl."

Clarke clearly heard the underlying thread and made a mental note to avoid being left alone with Tremot. The next time would surely end differently.

Tremot huffed and turned on his heel undoubtedly moving back to their shared room. As soon as the boy was out of sight Clarke relaxed. She had been sure the confrontation would end differently than it actually did. Taking a deep breath her blue eyes flickered to the brunette who still had her back to her, though she could see that Lexa also relaxed once Tremot retreaded.

"Thank you." Clarke's soft voice drew Lexa out of her thoughts. She turned slightly to the blonde and nodded before she moved in the same direction Tremot had gone in, leaving the blonde girl behind trusting her to find her way back without help.

* * *

 **Please let me hear your thoughts about this one.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hi everyone!**

 **I finally finished the next chapter.**

 **I hope you'll like it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 _They should've been back by now._

 _That was all Clarke could think of._

 _Lincoln and his father had headed out to TonDC for their usual trades. Normally it'd take five days for them to arrive back from their travels to and from TonDC, a week at the latest. But never two weeks._

 _Clarke had done everything in her power to stay occupied in the last two weeks. She had helped her mother sorting out the house and collecting more firewood to keep their house warm during these cold winter days. She had helped her father working on new fur clothes. She had helped other people with taking care of the horses, preparing the meat the hunters had brought back to the village, and other duties that had to be done._

 _She woke before the first light hit the ground and went to bed when the moon already hung high in the night sky._

 _Days turned into a week, a week turned into another one._

 _All those duties she had taken over to stay busy didn't change the fact that they should have been back by now, and the worry sat deep inside the pit of her belly._

 _Reports about raids had increased in the last few weeks. Clarke had voiced her concern towards her parents and Nyko, but they had told her that there wasn't much they could do. They had tried to calm her down, telling her that the weather had worsened and the snow fell merciless. Travels between the villages came to a complete stop due to the bad condition of the roads. It was possible that they were just sitting out the weather in TonDC before making their way back._

 _And Clarke wanted to believe them._

 _Honestly._

 _Yet she had a hard time doing so._

 _Now, no amount of work could distract her from the many thoughts running through her mind. She had come to the decision that she'll give them another day before she'd set out and look for them. As crazy as it sounded considering the weather condition. Though she knew that Lincoln would do the same if the roles were reversed._

 _Clarke had secretly packed a few things she'd need for the journey to TonDC and hid the bag under the bed, fully knowing that if her family would find it they'd talk her out if it._

 _At the end of the next day Clarke finished her work early and went home to pack some food, ready to go to bed early so that she could leave before the first sunlight in the morning. The blonde entered the house and went over to the kitchen filling her arms with different food, though not too much. She could hunt for her own on her way to TonDC._

 _Walking over to her room she reached for her bag under the bed to put the food inside of it. Her heart began to beat faster as she couldn't find it._

" _Searching for something?" The voice of her brother rang out from behind her._

 _Turning around Clarke saw Nyko holding up her prepared travel bag. The blonde's shoulders sacked as she sighed dejectedly. They had found out._

" _Nyko-"_

" _What did you think you would do, huh?" Her brother asked with an arched brow. Though there wasn't much to say in Clarke's mind. The bag surely told him everything he needed to know. "Clarke, the weather is too bad for travels like this one. And Azgeda enter more and more Trikru territory. You'd be an easy target out there on your own."_

" _I know my way through the woods!"_

" _I didn't say that you don't."_

" _It sounded like it."_

 _Nyko took a deep breath before putting the bag on the ground, behind him. "I just said that that it's a dangerous time to be out alone, travelling between the villages. Azgeda has gotten bolder these days and they're used to this kind of weather. You're my little sister. I worry about you. I'll always worry about you, despite knowing that you can handle the things being thrown your way."_

" _Lincoln would look for us, too."_

 _It was only a whisper of words but Nyko heard it. He stepped closer and put his arms around his sister. Her small frame fit easily into his bigger one and he asked himself where the time had gone. He could easily remember the times she was little enough to fit in the pit of one of his arms. "I know. He's a good guy."_

" _What if something happened?"_

" _I'm sure they're fine."_

 _Clarke pulled slightly back to be able to look into Nyko's eyes. "You don't know that."_

" _No, I don't. But I know those two. They're both great warriors. Lincoln's father is a hard sparring partner and Lincoln isn't too bad, too. And if he knows how to use those muscles he'd been sporting lately than there'll be finally some power behind his blows." The blonde had to laugh at this, weakly hitting her brother for his comment._

" _What? I can easily think back to a scrawny boy with long twigs as arms!"_

" _Please, don't tell him that. He'd been working hard on those muscles."_

" _Good, I was afraid he'd stay forever like that." Nyko huffed a lough. Clarke shook her head smiling before she sobered up. Seeing this, Nyko put his hand on her cheek to make her look up at him. "I promise you, as soon as the weather gets better and they're still not back, I'll travel with you to TonDC to look for them, okay?"_

" _You'll come with me?"_

 _A nod. "As soon as it's safe to travel."_

 _Instantly the blonde wanted to argue. She wanted to finish packing her bag, grab the warmest fur clothes she had, strap her bow and quiver and start looking for Lincoln and his father. She thought of all the reasons of why she couldn't wait any longer, ready to overrun her brother with them._

 _Yet deep down Clarke knew that Nyko was right. It wasn't the best time for travels. The odds for safe travels were against her and she also knew that Lincoln wouldn't want her to be reckless._

 _Leaning forward Clarke let her head rest on Nyko's chest, nodding briefly to show her brother her agreement of his plan. She more felt the sigh than she heard it, just like she felt the strong arms returning around her, enveloping her once again in a soothing embrace. "Everything will be fine."_

* * *

 _Much to Clarke's delight it had stopped snowing the next day. The blonde couldn't stay still as she searched for her brother the moment it had stopped snowing. She knew it had just stopped but she wouldn't wait until it began to snow again._

 _She was just rounding the corner of the house Clarke had been told Nyko was in when she heard a commotion on the other side of the village. The blonde made her way curiously towards the noise seeing that it was normally never a good sign. Just like her other people had been drawn in by the noise and a small crowd had gathered together in front of the source._

 _Clarke squeezed herself through the people, her eyes widening in surprise when she finally noticed the reason for commotion._

 _There were two people standing just outside of the village._

 _Lincoln and his father._

 _Her blue eyes quickly scanned them, searching for any life threatening injuries though couldn't find any. They looked a little worse for wear, a few cuts and some bruises. But fortunately she couldn't detect anything serious. She also noticed the lack of weapons, trading goods and the wooden cart they had left with._

 _Unable to wait any longer Clarke broke away from the crowd and ran towards her best friend. As soon as she was close enough she threw her arms around Lincoln and felt his immediate response as his arms slung around her, pulling her body as close to his own as he could._

" _I was worried."_

" _I know." Lincoln responded, not letting her go just yet. "I know you, Clarke. I knew you'd be worried. I was worried, too. I thought you'd do something stupid."_

" _I almost did." Lincoln huffed. It was almost frightening how good they knew each other. "What happened? Normally you never take this long?"_

 _Finally they pulled back from their embrace. Some people were still standing and observing the scene in front of them, though most went back to their work. She took note of Nyko's presence as he looked over Lincoln's father for any injury that might need treatment._

" _The weather delayed our journey back home. After three days we tried our luck and began our trip back home. Because of the weather it took longer than usual. Midway on our way home we got into an ambush. They bore the typical Azgeda marks. There were six of them and we were only two. But out of nowhere there was this girl. She can't be much older than us. She helped us fight of the Azgeda. Let me tell you, she knew what she was doing. Damn, you should've seen her fighting. She was remarkable."_

" _Does someone have a crush?" Clarke teased._

" _Please, it's not like that. She was nice, she helped us, and I'll probably won't see her ever again. But it was quite a sight to see her fight."_

* * *

 _Later that day they Clarke and Lincoln sat in front of a fire inside Lincoln's house. They had spent the evening in silence, both deep in their thoughts, drawing each on their own. They didn't need words. Just being in each other's presence again was enough for the two friends._

 _The blonde watched as her friend stood up and left to tend to the fire. Curiously Clarke glanced at the open page of Lincoln's sketch book, staring at his latest drawing. Her fingers traced the fine lines of a girl with a wild mane._

 _She instantly knew that this must be the girl that had helped her friends she considered as family._

 _Whoever she was Clarke was thankful for her helping them and she knew that if she'd ever get the chance, she'll thank her for it._

* * *

After the first few days Clarke found herself in an oddly comfortable routine. Her days began very early in the mornings joining the others at first meal. Until now she managed to keep her distance from Tremot though she often noticed him glaring at her from afar, probably just waiting for a chance to meet her alone. At least now he had another person he could shoot daggers at during their lessons besides Lexa.

Lexa herself was still a somewhat mystery to her. As eagerly as she had put herself protectively in front of Clarke back then, she still didn't warm up to her. The cold and empty bed early in the mornings became a normal sight, only meeting the others at first meal and then moved with them to their first lesson of the day. Whenever they had some time for their own, Lexa disappeared silently to god-knows-where. Although they still didn't exchange words there was a strange understanding between them, acknowledging each other whenever they met.

And somehow Lexa, with her calm and steady presence, became a constant in her life she appreciated.

The blonde kept her touring through the tower mostly between the lessons when she was sure Tremot left the tower and wouldn't be lurking around a corner waiting for her. In the short time she had been in Polis she met quite a handful of people.

Clarke made sure to stop at Muele's booth now and then to listen more to his many stories of his travels through the different clans. The man at the booth on the right side of Muele's, Tarko, was a skilled blacksmith and Clarke had admired the beautiful crafted daggers, swords and other goods he made with his own hands. Tarko had even shown her how to make her own dagger, albeit Clarke had difficulties getting the hang of it. But she had fun and an amused Tarko had told her that within time she would have no problems forging her own weapons. Every beginning was hard after all.

Her constant presence at Muele's and Tarko's booths got the attention to the woman having the booth on the left side of Muele's, Mira. Mira sold a variety of herbs, healing pastes and other healing equipment. The black haired woman and Clarke had often conversed about different healing practices seeing that Clarke herself had wanted to become a healer and Mira had some knowledge through her husband and daughter, whom just like Clarke was training to become a healer like her father.

There were some more vendors Clarke saw regularly, though Muele, Tarko and Mira were the ones she spent most of her time with when she was out in Polis. A soft smile formed on Clarke's lips as she thought about Mira and her constant nagging about the little injuries she got through their fighting lessons. They may know each other just for a few days yet she fussed over her as if she was her own daughter, showing her a kindness not many people had these days.

Right now Clarke and the others followed Tristan towards the training grounds outside of Polis. She walked quietly besides Pinto and Olev, listening to their conversation while ignoring the burning glare Tremot shot at her back. Clarke was thankful for the buffer Beori and Nadora made behind her. Lexa and Khalan were walking in front of them directly behind Tristan.

It didn't take long for them to reach the area and while the others just lined up next to each other almost boringly waiting for Tristan's orders, Clarke's eyes moved curiously over the place since this was the first time at this place.

It was a beautiful area surrounded by trees, though one could still see Polis without trouble. Because the training area was a little heightened Polis lay to its feet and the blonde let her eyes wander over the many houses and booths, trying to locate the area her friends had their booths in. Of course the highlight of the sight was the tower of Polis, proudly standing in the middle of the city with its blazing flame on the top of it. The sight was almost as breathtaking as the one from the upper levels looking down on the city laying below.

Clarke put her attention back to the reality as she heard Tristan beginning to pair them up with each other, waiting for her name to be called up. The teacher looked now to Clarke and stopped for a moment before he announced her training partner, almost as if he wasn't sure with whom he should pair her up. Clarke may have improved a little, but was still no match to most of them. Only Olev seemed reachable since he wasn't the best at fighting like the others.

"Clarke and Tremot."

Clarke's breath caught in her throat as soon as the words slipped from Tristan's lips, her heart instantly beating at a quicker pace and she felt her hands becoming clammy. Was their teacher serious? She stood no chance against Pinto, Nadora or Beori, even less Khalan or Lexa. Tremot with all of his muscles, broad shoulders and aggressive fighting style seemed untouchable.

Her blue eyes flickered to the huge boy who already stared satisfactorily at her, a sick smile on his lips. Of course he was happy about this situation having literally gotten the opportunity to beat her up without anyone minding it. She wouldn't even be surprised if he had orchestrated all of this, having waited almost patiently to show her what happened if she'd go against him.

This time she couldn't hope for Lexa to sweep in and help her out.

Sighing the young nightblood grabbed the wooden staff they would be training with and moved towards Tremot whom already waited for her with his own staff, swinging it skillful around. As she moved closer she suddenly felt a presence coming up to her and turned her head slightly, surprised to find Lexa next to her with her eyes on Tremot as if to silently warn him to not overstep during their training.

"Go for his legs, that's his weakness." The brunette murmured quickly to Clarke and distanced herself again moving over to her own training partner while leaving a stunned Clarke, wondering if Lexa was starting to care for her or if she had some ulterior motives. Maybe she just cared enough about Clarke to not let her end up as a punching bag without giving her any pointers to even out the skill level between her fellow nightblood siblings.

"Looks like this time it's just you and me, little girl." Tremot taunted her as she closed up to him. Clarke may have no chance against him, but she would do anything she could to wipe his jeering smirk from his face.

"Did someone tell you already that you talk too much, _big boy_." Clarke countered boldly and a scowl took over Tremot's face. She knew that she shouldn't anger him any more than she already did, but she couldn't help herself. She would definitely not cower before him and pleading him to go easy on her. No, she would take anything he'll deal out with her head held high. She won't show him any weakness.

Tremot gripped his staff with both of his hands moving sideways while his eyes were resting on her, and she moved in the opposite direction readying herself for the oncoming attack. For the first few seconds they circled each other, no one dared to attack first. The sounds of the others a distant noise at the back of their heads.

It was like flash during a thunder storm as Tremot suddenly closed the distance between them, staff raised and bringing it down onto Clarke's as she quickly tried to deflect the hit, the brute force hitting her almost threw her backwards if she wouldn't have put her whole weight against him. The joints of her hands and arms throbbed painfully for a few seconds.

Clarke tried to step back as fast as she could to avoid Tremot's next attack before she had the chance to recollect herself. She was already at a disadvantage strength-wise meaning she had to be quicker than he was. Though she wasn't able to move away in time and Tremot's staff came hard down on her right side, surely leaving a nasty bruise, and before she could do anything else she found herself on her back as she hit the ground like a sack of corn trying to get some air into her lungs.

Blinking while she coughed heavily Tremot towered over her, his sick smile back in place. It was obvious that he was beginning to enjoy their current training session. It took her some times to breathe evenly again, her right side hurting like hell.

"Don't tell me you're already done, little girl."

Clarke just looked at him, choosing to stay silent and concentrated as she slowly stood up and grabbed her staff again. Again, they started to circle each other. The blonde girl couldn't defend herself from Tremot's next attack as he first feinted an attack on her left side though suddenly changed his stance and brought down the staff on her right side – again. The pain in her side grew with the hit. She would have to pay more attention to defend her right side better. It was obvious that he'll most likely go for that spot again.

As much as she'd like to Clarke didn't find any opportunities for her own attack. Surprisingly Clarke was able to deflect the next two hits but she noticed that they weren't as forceful as before, making her wary of his plans. She knew that he was likely waiting for the right moment to place a forceful blow against her body.

Once again Tremot approached her frontally his staff raised high in the air and just like before Clarke deflected his attack with her whole body weight. As their staffs glided against each other Clarke wondered if he'll go for her side again, but it only took a few seconds for her to notice painfully that it probably didn't even cross his mind as the end of his staff made contact with her cheek and she felt something wet moving down on the left side of her face.

Automatically her hand moved to her cheek and her fingers got coated in black liquid. Tremot actually did draw blood with his attack, and the content look on his face told her that he had been aiming for it.

Clarke started to get furious but urged herself to stay calm. Furiously swinging her staff hoping to land a hit wouldn't help her. She'd have to stay focused and keep waiting for the perfect moment. Now and then she could she the others staring at her for a short moment before they pulled their attention back to their own training.

The blonde evened out her breathing again, closing her eyes briefly to recollect herself. Lexa had told her to go for his legs, so Clarke pondered how she could get close enough to him without being hit.

The female nightblood received two more hits before she saw her chance to place her own hit. Again, Tremot attacked directly staff raised but this time Clarke jumped in his direction letting herself fall to her knees, noticing Tremot's surprised expression as she had used the height difference in her favor. Clarke held her staff in the middle with both of her hands and quickly pushed the end of the staff as hard as she could in the middle of his poplit. Tremot automatically fell on his knees and Clarke hoped her hit had hurt him at least a little bit.

The blonde quickly drew her staff back and readied herself for her next blow before Tremot got the chance to recover. With all her might she swung the staff around, feeling herself losing her balance. Her staff kept course however and connected with Tremot's head, instantly breaking at the contact. Clarke ended up on her left side on the ground as she watched Tremot landing on his right side.

Hands pressing against the dirty ground Clarke slightly lifted herself and looked curiously towards her training partner whom surprisingly glanced right back at her, still somewhat confused at what had happened. Clarke knew that the little thin staff wouldn't do much harm to the huge and thick head of Tremot though Clarke was pleased to notice the nasty gash close to his eye.

Blood must have blood, she thought bitterly.

Clarke didn't know how much time passed by while they kept looking at each other, however Pinto's teasing remark drew them out of their thoughts.

"Oh Tremot, how are you feeling down there?" A huge smile was on the blonde boy's lips.

Her eyes somehow found Lexa's who stood next to a joyful Pinto, the corner of her mouth turned upwards clearly amused by the sight of Tremot being bested by the _little girl_. A quick and barely noticeable nod showed Clarke that Lexa seemed satisfied by her realization of her earlier hint to go for his feet.

Tremot got up to his feet and turned to face the still lying Clarke, his earlier scowl on his face but this time with an angry glint in his eyes. Luckily before Tremot could say or do something Tristan's voice rung out.

"Enough for today."

Her training partner huffed annoyed that he couldn't get another few hits in and turned around, making his way back towards Polis. One after the other started to follow him. Clarke quickly got up and moved to follow the others back to the city.

As soon as they arrived back each of the nightbloods went their own way and Clarke's feet moved instantly in the direction of her friends' booths. The first to notice Clarke's arrival was Muele and his eyes scanned her carefully as soon as he noticed the little cut on her face.

"I hope the other one looks just as bad, if not worse."

Clarke smiled at him. "Oh believe me, it ended on a good note. Both of us lost a few drops of blood."

"That's what I want to hear, my friend." Muele chuckled and his good mood immediately jumped over to Clarke.

Clarke's eyes moved to the side and took note of Tarko's empty booth, guessing that the man was currently at his forge creating new weapons. Muele's attention got sidetracked as a customer asked him something about his colors. Clarke waited patiently as she suddenly felt gentle hands on her arms turning her around.

"Oh my, look at you!" Mira exclaimed as she examined the cut closer. She murmured something under her breath which Clarke couldn't quite understand and turned around, eyes searching for something or someone, Clarke didn't know. "Costia! Could you please come over?"

A girl around her age moved carefully towards them her black locks fell effortlessly over her shoulders, light brown eyes gazed at her curiously. The girl, Costia, was around her height, only a little bit shorter than Clarke.

"Clarke, may I introduce you to my daughter Costia? Costia, this is Clarke." Mira smiled as she introduced the two girls to each other.

Costia smiled kindly at Clarke and the blonde already felt at ease around her. She had the same smile as her mother. "Hello, Clarke. My mother has told me a few things about you. How do you like Polis so far?"

"I love the city. I try to spend as much of my free time walking through the streets and enjoying the busy life as I can."

"Costia, could you take Clarke back home and take care of that cut of hers?" Mira asked.

Clarke shook her head, immediately declining the idea. "Please, you don't have to do that. It's not a big cut. I'll take care of it when I return to the tower."

"Oh, please. I'm happy to help. We don't live far. It will only take a few minutes." Costia insisted.

The blonde looked between mother and daughter, both staring at her with a certain expression that told her that she wouldn't be able to talk herself out of the situation. Sighing Clarke nodded and both women smiled satisfactorily.

Mira's family did indeed not live very far from their booth, their walk only consisting of a few minutes. Costia pointed to a chair and told Clarke to sit down as she gathered a few utensils. Carefully Costia cleaned the cut.

"I've never met a nightblood personally." Costia let out.

"Well, we're just like everyone else. Only with black blood instead of red."

"And the fact that one of you will become our new heda in the future."

"The emphasis lays on the _one of us_." Clarke replied bitterly. "Everyone else won't see much of this future."

Costia worked in silence for a moment, not continuing their current topic. It must have been obvious to the other girl that the topic was a sore one for Clarke. She hummed slightly as she put some paste on the wound. "What are you doing in your spare time when you're not enjoying a stroll through Polis?"

"Not much. I don't know a lot of people here and I don't own much." Clarke shrugged.

"Well, what did you use to do before you came to Polis?"

Clarke smiled as she thought back to her home. How she missed it to be surrounded by her family and friends. "I was training to become a healer like my bother. Sometimes my friend Lincoln and I were just rummaging through the forest. And at other times I just sat down somewhere and drew something."

"You like drawing?" It was a rare activity among the clans. Not many were talented enough to live off of art such as painting and drawing, though they were precious dealt with. People whom were talented enough mostly work alongside leaders drawing up maps and other useful works.

"Yes," Clarke sighed. Her fingers craved the feeling of charcoal moving against paper. It had been quite some time since she last had drawn something. "Though I hadn't had time to look for some utensils until now."

Wordlessly Costia got up and moved out of the room leaving Clarke on her own. However it didn't take long for the girl to return, some papers and a little pouch in hand. "Here, I don't need them anytime soon. I'll get some new."

"Oh no, I can't accept this. You were already nice enough to clean my cut."

"I insist. There aren't a lot of people out there who can draw. I need to support you." Costia smiled.

"Okay, but I'll pay for it."

Costia shook her head. "You don't have to. If you want to you could draw me something. That would mean more to me than anything you could give me."

Clarke stared at the girl waiting to see if she'd change her mind, but Costia just continued to smile at her. Clarke relaxed and smiled back, accepting the papers and the little bag. The prospect of drawing during her free time already lightened her mood further and her heart fluttered excitedly.

"Deal."

* * *

 **I hope you like this one.**

 **Please drop a comment with your thoughts on your way out. Thanks!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hi guys,**

 **I'm sorry for the wait. Work has been kicking my ass lately. And I struggled a bit with this chapter. I hope it's better than I think it turned out. I'm not quite happy with the flashback, but it won't get any better.**

 **I wish you all happy Easter holidays!**

 **Enjoy the update.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 _Clarke took a deep breath feeling a slight breeze caressing her cheek enjoying the first real day of spring after a hard and cold winter. It wasn't too warm yet though pleasantly enough in the sun._

 _Oh, how she had missed those warm sunrays on her skin._

" _Don't fall asleep up there!" Clarke heard Lincoln's teasing voice from further down and smiled. Officially Nyko was her only sibling, but she felt like she actually had two brothers. Lincoln felt as much like family as Nyko._

 _Finally opening her eyes the blonde took a few steps backwards, quickly taking in another deep breath before she broke out in a sprint. A few feet further she let out a yell as she jumped, feeling for a brief moment the excitement of being weightless until her body plunged into the luke-warm water of the lake close to their village._

 _After a few seconds she surfaced again, inhaling some fresh air as she pushed her hair out of her face with her hands._

" _Finally! I thought you'll never jump."_

" _As if I'd miss the chance to spend some time in the lake, Lincoln. It's been too long." Clarke replied laying back to let herself float in the water while the sun shone down onto her._

 _Lincoln chuckled. "Yeah, you definitely needed this bath."_

" _Are you saying I stink?" Clarke gasped._

" _Well, you did work in the horse stable this morning."_

" _You little…" The blonde dove at her friend who already swam into the other direction to get away from her, his laughter carrying over to her._

 _Swimming quickly Clarke had no problems catching up to him. Lincoln may be taller and stronger than her but the blonde had always been the faster one of the two. She jumped onto his back pushing him under water, immediately following him when she felt him pulling away from her. It didn't take long to notice the place Lincoln was diving to._

 _A few years ago they had found a little hut on the ground of the lake. Of course they had been quite thrilled about their discovery albeit it was a rather small hut. The wooden hut looked like it had been flooded for some years now. The both had spent more than enough time looking over the insides of the hut, swimming either through the door or one of the windows._

 _Of course there wasn't much inside but it was a fun place to dive through._

 _Clarke saw Lincoln entering the hut through one of the windows, just a bit ahead of her. She thought about diving over the roof and catch up to Lincoln on the other side of it when her eyes noticed something on the ground of the lake._

 _Quickly returning to the surface the blonde took a deep breath before she went under water again, smoothly moving through the water towards the position she had seen the object on the ground._

 _Running her hand slowly through the sand until her fingers touched the mysterious object. As soon as it was safely in her hand Clarke began to swim back to the surface. Pulling her hair out of her face she lifted the roundish object and inspected it more closely. It had a brownish casing and in the middle was a cracked glass. Inside the glass was one long figure beginning on one side and ending on the other. The background looked light one big star with letters on each big line of the star._

" _What do you have there?"_

 _Eyes flickering up to find Lincoln staring curiously at the object in his friends' hand. Clarke glanced back down at the object and shook her head. "I don't know. I found it on the ground."_

" _Must've been laying there for a while."_

" _Whatever it is, I think it's broken."_

 _Lincoln was just about to say something when suddenly a pained cry broke through the otherwise peaceful silence. Two sets of eyes immediately turned towards the direction of the road. It didn't take long before more screams joined the first one. Not waiting any longer than necessary both swam quickly back to the shore._

 _In their haste they didn't even dry themselves before putting on their clothes again. The noise from the road clearly stated that whatever was going on wasn't a harmless child's play. The friends picked up their weapons, Lincoln his sword and Clarke her bow and the quiver with her arrows, and hurried towards the source of the noise._

 _Fortunately it was closer to the lake than they had first thought. It didn't take long until they came in sight of two merchants with a big, wooden cart filled with their goods. Both, the older man and his younger companion were surrounded by five attackers which looked like Azgeda. The older man pressed his right hand onto his right tight as blood seeped through his fingers, his face pulled into a painful grimace. The younger boy held his sword up trying to protect himself and his wounded companion._

 _Clarke didn't hesitate once as she heard Lincoln pulling out his own sword and quickly grabbed an arrow, aiming at the closest to the two men. The blonde let go of the arrow as soon as she heard Lincoln's battle cry, immediately reaching for the next arrow before the first one even met its target._

 _Satisfied Clarke watched as the first of the Azgeda fell on his knees, an arrow pierced through his heart._

 _One down, four more to go._

 _Lincoln drew the attention of the two closest to him while the other two continued to attack the two merchants. Knowing that Lincoln could hold his own for some time the blonde aimed her second arrow at one of the two warriors the boy was fending bravely off on his own._

 _The arrow found its home in the warrior's throat, leaving him a blood gurgling mess on the ground._

 _Once again reaching for another arrow Clarke heard a warning yell from Lincoln and the blonde was barely able to avoid the sharp sword which would have easily beheaded her if she hadn't moved. She cursed under her breath for not having noticed that one of the warriors Lincoln was fighting against having made his way towards her after noticing the female archer standing a little off the side taking out one of his friends after the other._

 _The Azgeda warrior didn't wait long with his next attack and once again Clarke jumped backwards to avoid it. Trying to put some distance between herself and the attacker the blonde girl moved a few more steps away and readied the arrow she had originally wanted to shoot at the other attacker of the merchants._

 _She was just about to let go of the arrow as the Azgeda warrior who had already made his way over to her again paused and both, Clarke and the attacker glanced surprised down at his torso where the top of a sword stood out. Soon the attacker fell to the ground and Clarke stared into the face of Lincoln who had come to her help._

 _Remembering the last of the five attackers Clarke changed the direction and shot the arrow at the remaining Azgeda warrior thus ending the raid of the Azgeda warriors._

 _Clarke walked over to Lincoln and nodded at him. "Thanks."_

" _No thanks needed. I'll always have your back, you know that."_

 _Smiling at her friend she squeezed his arm once again grateful for having him as her best friend. She knew that she could always relay on him to have her back, no matter what._

 _Together they made their way to the two merchants, the younger one took a closer look at the wound of his companion. Upon noticing the arrival of Clarke and Lincoln the boy looked up and smiled at them, his white teeth a stark contrast to his otherwise dark skin. "Thanks for helping me and my father. I don't know how to reward you for your help."_

" _We don't need a reward. Seeing you two alive is all we need."_

" _May I?" Clarke asked, motioning at the bleeding wound of his father who had yet to look up from his wound. The pain was literally written in his face as it was still contorted with pain. "I'm training to become a healer."_

" _We'd be grateful for your help."_

 _Clarke stepped closer to the injured man and knelt down to take a look on the wound. It was a deep cut but it didn't look to serious. Sterilizing and binding it should be enough to stop the bleeding, and after a few days of rest Clarke guessed that the man should be able to walk around painlessly again. "It doesn't seem too serious. Our village isn't far, my brother is a healer. He can help your father."_

" _Once again, I can't express how grateful we are for your help."_

 _The three of them made some space on the cart so that the injured father could sit down while the others moved the cart towards the nearby village. It didn't take long until they reached the safety of the village, having kept a close eye on their surroundings in case there were more Azgeda in the area._

 _While the two boys continued to move the cart further into the village Clarke quickly took off in search for her brother. Thankfully Nyko wasn't too far away and was able to look after the merchant as soon as they reached the middle of the village._

 _The father and the son were following Nyko inside the healer's house and after a short goodbye to Lincoln who made his way home Clarke followed the men inside the house. It didn't take long to take care of the wound and soon the man laid on a cot resting his leg while his son watched over him._

 _The blonde girl sat on a chair at the other side of the house, watching the little family while playing absently with the strange object she had found in the lake._

" _What do you have there?"_

 _Coming back to the present Clarke blinked twice before she put her attention on her brother who took a seat next to her. After a beat she realized that her brother had caught sight of the object in her hands. "Oh, this? I don't know. I found it while Lincoln and I swum in the lake earlier."_

" _May I?" Clarke nodded and held out the object for her brother. He stared thoughtfully at it before he hummed slightly and a small smile broke out on his lips. "I've seen something like this once before. On the table of a merchant in Polis. It's an old compass."_

" _A compass?"_

" _Yes," Nyko nodded, handing it back to his sister. "Before the great war, people used compasses to navigate. It helped them to never get lost."_

" _How?"_

" _Oh, I don't know exactly how it worked." Nyko laughed heartily. His sister had always been a curious one. Always a question on her lips. "But with the compass, one was able to always find their way home."_

 _The blonde looked down at the compass in her hand, mulling over the fact that this little thing helped people to find their way through the many lands of the world._

 _How strange that even the smallest thing could mean so much._

* * *

"How many people have you already treated?" Clarke asked curiously, eyes resting on Costia who was sitting opposite of her gazing at the drawing Clarke had made for her.

At first Clarke didn't know what to draw for the black haired healer because she didn't know her well enough to know what she liked, though it didn't take too long before an idea popped up, remembering the beautiful sight from the training area outside of Polis. Clarke had been sure that Costia would appreciate the drawing of Polis she had made for her.

"A few. Mostly I just help my teacher, handing him things or preparing treatments. Though he did tell me that he'll soon give me more responsibilities." The girl replied as her finger gently traced the lines of the picture, staring amazingly at the authentic drawing of Polis. She was stunned at Clarke's talent and didn't find any words to describe her wonderment of how someone like Clarke could create something like this drawing with just her own hands and a few utensils. "This is beautiful, Clarke. You're really talented. I'm sure you could easily live off on this craftsmanship here in Polis."

Clarke chuckled, trying to hide the blush that was threatening to flush over her cheeks. In reality Clarke had some difficulties with this drawing, it had been some time she had drawn something and remembering all the details of the view from the training area. She had worked on this piece for two days before she was satisfied with its outcome.

In the meantime Clarke and Costia had grown closer spending time together, sometimes lounging around the booths of their friends and sometimes just roaming through the streets of Polis. Costia had even introduced her to her teacher, Woqan.

Woqan was a respected man among the citizen of Polis, as the head healer of the city he had treated quite the amount of people, variating from little injuries to life-threatening wounds. He was a busy man because injuries weren't a rare occurrence in their community, though rumors had it that he was solely concentrating on the health of their heda at the moment. Costia did neither decline it nor confirm it, yet Clarke knew that there was no way Polis' best healer wouldn't be working on Heda Sanco.

Costia had shown her the booths with the best foods and other interesting goods. It felt good to spend time with someone her own age who didn't remind her of her future, and she was able to forget about all her troubles. At least for some time. They laughed a lot and ignored Clarke's nightblood and its meaning.

The blonde girl even found herself more often than not at the home of Mira and Costia, sharing the last meal of the day with them instead of joining the other nightbloods. It wasn't required for them to eat together so Clarke opted to stay with her friends as long as she could.

Clarke had been torn away from her family back home and she missed them dearly. However she slowly was building a new one here in Polis, carefully sewing up a safety net for herself. A net of people she knew will have her back no matter what.

Through Costia Clarke even picked up her training as a healer. It wasn't ideal and she couldn't put as much energy in it as she'd like, but at least she could work on her skills. She hoped her brother will be proud of her if he'd know that she continued her training even when she wasn't able to learn from him.

Her days started to get brighter.

* * *

Lexa took a deep breath, heart beating slightly faster as she gripped securely on her training sword while she waited for Nadora to get back up from the floor. She used the brief moment to enjoy the warm sun shining down on her face, knowing that the days would soon begin to shorten and the days will become cooler as winter neared.

She heard a quiet thud from afar and flickered her eyes to her right to gaze at a scene she had grown used to see during their training, familiar sun blonde hair laid scattered on the dirty ground as the girl once again landed hard on it. Lexa almost felt bad for her, time was slowly but surely running out and Clarke's improvements were very little after having trained with them for almost two weeks now.

The brunette knew that the girl was trying to adapt as quickly as possible, but it would probably help more if someone would completely concentrate on her and show her the ropes from the very beginning, not throwing her into a group of people whom already knew how to fight and were only honing their style and learn a few more tricks here and there.

Yet their teachers didn't care a lot about this difference in knowledge almost treating Clarke as an unwanted addition to the group, only here with them in Polis because it was demanded that all nightblood were to live in Polis and train under the commander's eyes.

But Clarke had potential. Lexa had seen it when the blonde had taken down Tremot a few days back, even if she'd have died long before that in a real fight. Clarke was stubborn. Stubborn and willing to learn, and if someone would pay more attention to her Lexa was sure she'd quickly catch up to their level.

One thing Lexa had to admit was that she was slowly warming up to the blonde's presence in her life, her eyes always searching shamefully around the group of nightbloods until they rested on blonde hair and blue eyes. Although she never had to search long for her since she somehow seemed to always be aware of Clarke's location, yet her eyes still needed the verification.

Lexa didn't know how but the blonde found a way through her carefully erected walls, her easy smile and carefree demeanor, eyes lightening up in joy and her raspy voice. She had picked up on the little things the blonde did, mostly without noticing it, and it did funny things within her.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a servant making his way towards Tristan, though she was too far away to hear any words. Lexa moved to prepare herself for a new round waiting for Nadora to do the same, yet before they could engage in a new fight the brunette heard her name being called.

"Lexa!"

Confused she turned to their teacher, closing the distance between them to listen to whatever he had to say to her. "Yes, teacher?"

"Heda Sanco requires my presence. Take over the remaining of the lesson. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Lexa nodded and watched his retreading figure before turning around and looked at the others whom kept up with their training instead of looking at the commotion, only Nadora stood there waiting for Lexa's return.

The training went over without a hitch, not that Lexa expected otherwise. Only Tremot wasn't pleased with Tristan's choice to put Lexa in charge, but one well-placed glare and carefully picked words put the boy back in his place.

He was the one she least liked from their group. Lexa knew that he was thirsting to be the best nightblood, to become the next heda. Though he apparently seemed to forget that being a good warrior wasn't all there was to the position of heda, and he lacked greatly in the remaining aspects.

Over the years Lexa had noticed that Tremot liked to rat one of them out if they did something that wasn't allowed, often affecting Pinto and his adventurous being.

Lexa guessed he tried to kiss Titus' ass and become his favorite but the brunette was glad to see that even when Titus was happy that the boy disclosed these information he still didn't favorite him more than others.

Only Lexa.

Titus saw something in her, had even told her that she was born for greatness and that her future will be a bright one. Lexa could often see the pride in his eyes when she accomplished something or mastered his teachings in Gonasleng or their history.

While her fellow nightbloods ended their training and moved out of the room, Lexa stayed patiently where she was only moving when most of them were already gone from the area. "Clarke!"

The blonde turned around and looked confused at her, probably considering the many reasons why Lexa had called out to her. The older girl gazed at her and waited until Clarke was closer to her. "Lexa?"

"We'll do some extra training." Lexa disclosed and handed Clarke the training sword she had kept in her hands at the end of their official session.

Clarke accepted the sword but stayed where she was and her eyes were still filled with confusion. Since when was Lexa directly engaging with her, willingly spending time with her without being required to? The blonde was used to Lexa's loner attitude as the brunette never spent their free time with any of them. In reality no one of the nightbloods often spent their free time with their sisters and brothers, using the offered time for themselves and their friends outside of their little band of nightbloods. "Why?"

"Because you could use some help with the basics every warrior learns at the beginning of their training."

"And you're going to help me?"

Lexa kept her stoic expression on, though she had to bite back a teasing smirk. "Do you see anyone else here?"

"Just making sure. You're not the most social person I've met."

Lexa just hummed understandingly, her actions had actually aimed for this. She didn't want to form bonds, make friends and fall in love when everything could be gone in the blink of an eye. One could say that Lexa was afraid, afraid of the pain that would come if something happened especially for a nightblood like herself. They all really lived on borrowed time, not even the one of them who'd become heda will have an easy life. Heda lived for the people. They always came first, and having people they cared for would almost feel selfish for the brunette, knowing that they would never come first for the heda.

She moved closer to Clarke when the other girl signaled her that she was all set to start their training. Lexa told the girl to stay like this and came to a stop behind her, hands gently moving Clarke into the right position, putting the blonde's feet at the right distance to each other with the help of her own foot.

Being this close to Clarke set her heart into an uncontrollable pace and she had to remind herself to take deep and calm breaths, though that only resulted in inhaling Clarke's unmistakably scent. It also didn't help when she heard Clarke's brief gasp as her hands had first touched her. At least she apparently wasn't the only one being affected by the other, Lexa thought.

As soon as Lexa was satisfied with Clarke's now acceptable stance she moved away from her, putting herself in front of the girl and prepared herself to train with her though without a weapon of her own. This was about teaching Clarke the basics. She wouldn't need to arm herself.

She motioned for Clarke to attack and easily dodged the incoming blow. "You're telling your counterpart where you'll attack them. You have to keep eye contact from the beginning to the end. Never stray your eyes to the position you want to hit. At least not if you don't want to make it easy for your enemies to take you down. Besides, the eyes are the first thing betraying each warrior. It only takes a flicker of them to tell you their thoughts. With time you'll learn to recognize certain tells."

Lexa moved away from another blow from the blonde. "First lead your weapon and then follow with your body when you attack someone. The sword lands on your enemy the same time your foot makes contact with the ground again. This way you won't lose your balance and you'll hit them with your full strength."

They trained like that for the next two hours, Clarke attacking and Lexa dodging each and every one of her hits. Lexa was pleased to note the improvement in Clarke's fighting style, glad that she was able to help the blonde to make her sessions with the others easier.

"Why are you doing this?" Clarke couldn't help but ask at the end of their private lesson, trying to find out the reasons behind Lexa's sudden assistance.

"What?"

"This," The blonde indicated at their surroundings, training sword put away in the row at the far wall where all the different training weapons rested. "Helping me."

Why was she helping her? Was it because she started to like the blonde? Or because somewhere along the very short road she started to cringe inwardly every time the girl hit the ground? Maybe it was that the thought of Clarke getting hurt suddenly was getting more and more unbearable?

Lexa sighed before she softly exclaimed. "Maybe I don't want you to just be slaughtered at the conclave."

Silence.

It was obvious that the girl was processing Lexa's words. Blue eyes stared deeply in her green ones and she stubbornly kept the eye contact while the blonde searched for something deep within the older girl. Lexa shuddered, feeling like Clarke sunk into the deepest corners of her being and she couldn't do anything to keep her out of her.

"The more you're helping me, the more of an enemy you're making me. Why would you do that? The others are clearly happy for my lack of fighting skills."

Why did she have to ask question Lexa herself hadn't answers to? Lexa tried to find words to explain her reasoning, but she fell short. It annoyed her to no end that Clarke could render her speechless without doing much. Still, Lexa struggled to answer her and she was overcome with the need to put on a mask, stare stoically at her to show her that she most certainly won't get a clear answer and get the hell out of this room.

The sigh coming from Clarke told her that she took too long to answer and she felt strangely relieved by it. Lexa expected to meet Clarke's eyes again as she glanced back at her however the blonde was looking melancholy at the ground. Now all she wanted was to cheer Clarke up, not liking the expression on her face.

"We both know that I don't stand a chance at the conclave. I don't have the same skill set of any of you, and I certainly don't have time to catch up. I've met the heda upon my arrival and at any lessons since then. He looks bad. Really bad. That's probably the reason why we see less and less of him. It's actually borders on a wonder that he's still alive. I mean, he could die at any second. The only reason why no one spoke out a challenge until now is because everyone is hiding his condition from the people. If his enemies would've known about his health, they would have already gotten rid of him."

"You should be honored." Lexa exclaimed instantly, not even allowing the thoughts of an impending conclave to plant themselves in her mind. Though she wasn't sure why she had said that having just wanted to disagree with Clarke, hoping to lighten the mood again. "You're a nightblood. Even without experience in fighting the spirit of our beloved heda might see you as worthy and choose you, and then no one, not even the best fighter, would have a chance against you."

Lexa's breath hitched as sky blue eyes flickered up from where they had rested on the ground and stared back at her. The corner of Clarke's lips twitched and a soft smile spread out. She felt her own lips form an encouraging smile.

"I don't believe in this."

The brunette almost missed those delicate words ever leaving Clarke's lips, and again she felt breathless but this time for a whole other reason as she felt her heart breaking for the hopeless girl in front of her. Lexa had no time to respond and could only watch the young girl wordlessly leave the room. Once again she asked herself why she even cared so much.

Damn her feelings.

* * *

 **I hope you like it. Please drop a comment on your way out.**

 **Thanks!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hi guys,**

 **I'm late! I know. Sorry for making you wait this long. But again (or still) works kicking my ass and I started to work on my fitness, so my time to write is rather limited. I've tried to finish the chapter sooner, but often my eyes would burn while staring at the screen so that I dismissed it and turned my laptop off.**

 **After such a long wait I don't want to bore you with my private life and let you go on with the new chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 _Clarke and Lincoln laid on the grass on a small hill overlooking the village. The sun was shining down and the birds were singing beautiful melodies._

 _While Clarke rested her head on her hands facing up to the sky, enjoying the peace for a moment she closed her eyes slowly being lulled to sleep by the gentle drawing sounds of Lincoln who rested on his side while he tried to catch their view on a piece of paper._

 _Times like these were too rare nowadays._

 _And sadly they will be getting even rarer._

" _I will miss this." The blonde heard her friend softly speaking, the gentle breeze taking the words with it. But she had heard him and an uncomfortable sadness came over her._

 _This was the last day Lincoln would be here with her. She was spending the last few hours with him before he'd leave for TonDC to begin his work as a Trikru warrior. She knew that this had always been his plan, but until now it had always been a distant reality. So far away until it wasn't anymore. Until it was a_ now _._

 _Clarke opened her eyes and turned her head so that she could look at him._

 _He had changed a lot over the years. Back when they had been little children he hadn't been more than a fragile little boy with a squeaky voice and a toothy smile. Now there he sat, looking like a huge brute with all his muscles. Tattoos adorning his arms and chest. He was the perfect picture of a Trikru warrior._

 _Yet Clarke knew that inside Lincoln was still a big softy._

" _I will miss you, too."_

 _Oh, how she will miss her friend. He had always been there for her. With her. She couldn't imagine for him to not be there with her anymore. He was a constant in her life. His presence a calming one to her whirlwind soul. They had gotten into quite some trouble over the years, often by Clarke's doings. But he had been there by her side every time._

 _They had gone through thick and thin._

 _She was proud of him. Proud to have him as a friend. And while she felt a little nostalgic at the moment she couldn't be happier. And she knew that he'll make Trikru proud to have him among their lines in case of a battle._

 _Which she hoped wouldn't be too soon._

" _TonDC isn't out of the world, you know. Maybe you could come and visit sometimes?"_

 _Clarke smiled, glad that he wasn't looking forward to leave her and their village behind. "Of course I will be visiting you. You'll probably get sick of me in no time."_

" _I could never get sick of you." Lincoln replied, bumping his shoulder against Clarke's as she sat up, leaning back onto her hands._

" _You better not."_

 _Lincoln laughed before he looked briefly back to his almost finished drawing. His eyes flickered up to Clarke's exposed shoulder and then finally fixing on her face again. "I like it, you know." Noticing Clarke's confused glance he elaborated. "Your tattoo. It's unique. It suits you."_

 _The blonde gazed over her shoulder where she could see a part of her tattoo peeking out from her top. Since it was a rather warm day Clarke had decided on a sleeveless top._

 _It was normal for people of Trikru to have one or several tattoos on their bodies. They were mostly beautiful and artistic designs with certain meanings, especially for the one decorating their body with them. And just like everyone else, Clarke and Lincoln decided to put some of the black ink on their own bodies._

 _Lincoln already had one on his right arm way before Clarke decided to finally get one herself. The blonde had thought quite some time about her tattoo. It was normal for Trikru to have intricate symbols marking the body, not actual pictures._

 _But then Clarke thought back to the compass she had found in the lake and immediately knew what she wanted as a tattoo. It wasn't like the compass meant so much to her that she needed it to be forever inked in her skin, but rather the meaning behind it. That whatever happened, she'll always find her way home, her way back to her family and friends._

 _That was how Clarke ended with one circle punctuated by four thick, long lines and four thick, smaller lines. On each longer line was a letter on its top, which Clarke later on learnt stood for a cardinal direction. The inner circle from where the lines began was the symbol of her chain as a homage to her origins._

 _She was oddly proud of her tattoo._

 _Clarke and Lincoln stayed for another hour only leaving after Lincoln finished his drawing. He had told her he wanted to take the drawing with him to TonDC so that he'll always have something from his home with him._

 _They slowly descended the hill neither in a hurry to return to their village, getting closer to their goodbyes. Until now they had spent the day away with a little hunt, a quick swim in the lake and some training, loving every minute of it._

 _But their time together was slowly but surely coming to an end._

 _Lincoln will have to leave soon if he wanted to arrive in the next village by sunset. He planned to stay the night at a friends' who'll also join the ranks of Anya's warriors and together they'll travel to TonDC._

 _The blonde felt almost silly as she noticed Lincoln's and her pace getting slower the closer they got to the village. It wasn't like one of them will die or anything drastic like that, but knowing that they won't see each other on a daily basis made her feeling slightly sick._

 _Lincoln had always been right there with her._

 _From now on he wouldn't be anymore._

 _In the distance Clarke could already see Lincoln's family, some friends and Clarke's family, waiting for them to return to say their own goodbyes. The blonde hung back and watched carefully the farewell as everyone bid their goodbyes and wishing him good luck._

 _When it was time for her to bid her own farewell to her best friend Clarke wound her arms around Lincoln tightly, pressing herself against him. She couldn't believe that it was time to say their goodbyes. She felt his strong arms encircling her, resting his head on her own. "Take care."_

" _You, too."_

 _There were no more words needed as everything had been already said earlier the day. Honestly, the friends had always been able to communicate without many words. They knew each other too well for that._

 _Even when Lincoln had long since left, the blonde kept standing there eyeing place she had last seen him before he disappeared from her view._

 _Her heart had rarely weighted so much._

* * *

Clarke groaned as she laid stretched out on the ground, muscles aching while she took deep breaths to calm down her heart rate again. While she was thankful that Lexa spent her precious free time helping her to improve her fight skills, she cursed the brunette still standing a few feet away who had yet to break out in a sweat.

The last three days Clarke had spent her free time mostly with Lexa continuing training. Every day the blonde let herself fall hard on her bed at nights, sleep finding its way to her in a matter of seconds. A few times the other nightbloods had thrown glances at them likely wondering what she and Lexa were up to, though no one had dared to say something. They only knew that the two female nightbloods hung back after training and only arrived back at the dorm late at night.

The most confusing detail was probably Lexa. Clarke had gotten the impression that Lexa was a loner, staying to herself, engaging herself as little with her nightblood family as she could. Stoic, emotionless and quiet. The fact that Lexa _offered_ Clarke her help and was spending so much time with her threw her off, just like the others who just kept staring oddly at them as they carefully observed them when they were together.

But Lexa was anything but the stoic girl she had first met. Her green eyes sparkled with a certain warmth that made Clarke's heart flutter instantly, her soft and gentle touch caused the blonde goosebumps along the path those long fingers took on her skin. Clarke even caught her smiling at her a few times, brief as they were.

The time spent with Lexa was strenuous and hard, but Clarke began to like their time together and wouldn't trade it for anything else.

"Come on, Clarke. Get up."

Clarke huffed annoyed that she had again lost a fight to Lexa, the sound causing the corners of Lexa's lips to rise slightly the amusement clearly visible on Lexa's face. That was another thing Clarke had noticed during their time together. It had become easier for her to get a reaction out of the stoic brunette and her heart did funny things, cheering inwardly every time she obviously got through her wall.

Her next attempt ended up like all the others, Clarke on the ground with Lexa standing above her though this time Clarke had managed to stay longer on her two feet. She blinked as she recovered from the fall and Lexa nodded contentedly. "Good. You're getting better."

"Really?" Clarke asked unbelieving, staring carefully at Lexa to try and detect any mistruth flashing on Lexa's face yet she only saw sincerity. "I don't think I improved that much."

"You have. Don't doubt yourself. Doubt is a seed that plants itself deep inside of you and makes you vulnerable."

"Is that my lesson of the day?" Clarke asked. There seemed to be always some smart words from Lexa to help Clarke along and teach her some more. In another life the brunette would have made a great teacher Clarke thought, glad for Lexa's calm demeanor as she was patient and wise at the same time.

Lexa didn't answer and just lifted a brow as she stared down at the other girl, albeit the twinkle in those green eyes told Clarke that she wasn't annoyed by her. She offered Clarke her hand to help her up and pulled the younger girl back on her feet.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Clarke. Life itself is a lesson we have to master each and every day."

"If you continue to talk like that you may become bald and get an affinity for ugly robes."

"Do not ridicule the Flamekeeper, Clarke." Lexa responded with a harmless glare, though Clarke still had seen the brief tuck at Lexa's lips. "He means well."

"Maybe with you. You're his favorite, do you know that?"

A sigh fell over the brunette's lips and Lexa started gathering their training utensils. "I know. He doesn't hide the fact that he'd like to see me win the conclave, even stated as such openly. As Flamekeeper he shouldn't have favorites."

"Yeah, well he has one." A third voice calls out and Clarke and Lexa turned around in surprise. A tall, dark skinned boy stood at the entrance of the training room, his arms crossed.

"Illiams. You're back." Lexa stated as she kept her eyes on the new arrival, her voice not giving away if she was glad he was back or not.

"I would've loved to stay longer, but Titus sent a messenger ordering me to return to Polis." The bald boy licked his lips as his eyes moved from Lexa over to Clarke, mustering her from afar. "I have heard about the nightblood Trikru found in their midst and got hauled to Polis by Lexa's First." Illiams chuckled after he must've completed his analyze of the blonde nightblood. "I can't wait to see how good of a fighter you are." With that the Sankru nightblood turned around and left the two females on their own once again.

"Don't worry. His bark is louder than his bite could ever hurt."

Clarke bit worryingly onto her lip as she stared at the place Illiams' had just stood. She didn't know a lot about the other nightblood seeing that the others hadn't talked a lot about him resulting in Clarke completely forgetting about him. Now he was back, an unknown variable in a game she already had lousy chances of mastering. The blonde didn't even know if she _wanted_ to win.

Her heart clenched painfully at the thought of killing any of the nightbloods she was starting to become friends with. Olev's quotations of books, Beori's careless laughs, Nadora's annoyed yet amused eye-rolling, Pinto's story-telling, Lexa's rare smiles. After having spent some time with the nightbloods even Khalan didn't seem as terrifying as she had thought when she had first seen him. Just like Lexa his smiles were rare ones, but oh so genuine.

The only one she still couldn't find any liking to was Tremot. Having observed the interaction with the others Clarke had noticed that the other nightbloods mostly ignore the tall boy, avoiding having to deal with him. Even when Tremot acted out there weren't many who'd talk back – or even fight back – and put Tremot back into his place. Sadly, there were only two, Khalan and Lexa. The rest would just glare at him and spit a few words in his direction, but no open confrontation.

Clarke helped Lexa putting away their training utensils before the two of them bid their farewells and went their own ways seeing that they had still some free time on their hands. As much as Clarke was curious as to know what Lexa was up to during her free time, the blonde opted to let her go on her own instead, visiting her friends at the market. Lexa invested enough of her time in helping her, Clarke didn't want to take up any more of her time as she needed.

While the blonde strolled through the roads of Polis she couldn't help but notice a certain flurry, a touch of excitement seemed to be carried around by the many vendors. Here and there Clarke could see even more goods than usual, some roads more packed with merchants than she had ever seen before since arriving in Polis.

The blonde nightblood took note of her friends' booths, her eyes glancing over all the careful placed items. It looked like they had put more effort in decorating their booths than usual. Tarko had extended his variety of weapons with a few beautiful weaved baskets around his booth, Muele had hung a few clay vases from the top of his booth which were filled to the brim with colors Clarke hadn't seen there before, and Mira decorated her booth with wonderful braids of plants mixed in with a few flowers Clarke knew from her time training with Nyko to have some calming effect.

"Clarke!"

Turning around Clarke stared directly in Costia's smiling face and she could detect the same exciting anticipation on the olive skinned beauty. Still, the blonde couldn't help herself but let herself be carried away by the good mood the people all around her seemed to have. "Costia, is it just me or is something going on here?"

"The vendors are in full preparation of the incoming festivities." Costia replied as she stepped closer to the nightblood only coming to a stop two feet away from her friend. "Every year this time around the vendors are celebrating another year of successful trading. This is the sixth year since Heda Belarian had taken care of free trading routes throughout the various clans. The clan leaders may want to strangle each other and travelling is still dangerous, but the vendors can make their way through the different clan territories without getting killed at sight. Of course they need special permission from each clan to sell their goods and there are a lot of bandits out there, but they still have a bigger sales area."

"And the festivity is soon?"

"Yes, in two days actually."

Clarke looked surprised at Costia. This was the first time she heard of this, no one at the tower had lost a word of the festivities. "I didn't know."

"Well, it's always have been a celebration among the vendors. Though heda always paid his respect with showing up for a little bit, I don't think that Heda Sanco will be attending this year considering his health."

"What about us nightbloods? Do we attend?"

"Well," a mischievous smirk formed on Costia's lips which wordlessly answered Clarke's question without needing the following words. "Officially, no. _But_ ,….but I saw some of your fellow nightbloods sneaking through the festival in the last years. I think if they don't catch you, you're good."

Causing more trouble, that was just what she needed.

Costia seemed to sense the blonde's hesitancy and put her arm around her, pulling her friend further into the more than usual busy market place. "Come on, Clarke. Live a little."

Living. Yeah, she should do that. Life's been serious enough in the last few days, maybe it was time to forget her future and live freely in the present, celebrating with her friends. What could happen, right?

"Hey, Costia!"

The two girls turned around to the voice having called out the black-haired healer and Clarke watched as Costia's eyes widened and a big smile broke out. "Alwa!"

In seconds Costia made her way over to the dark skinned boy whom greeted her with open arms, lifting her a little as he spun her around laughing. His hair was a wild mix of various braids pulled back by two bigger braids, though the sides of his head had shorter hair. His figure was of an athletic build and he was just as tall as Clarke, his toothy smile making him look friendly. There was a scar visible on his chin Clarke had the feeling she'll hear the story behind it sometime later.

"Clarke, may I introduce you to Alwa? He's one of my closest friends. He and his father travel a lot, though they came to Polis for the celebration." Brownish eyes peered over at her as Clarke saw him waving enthusiastically at her. "Alwa, this is Clarke. She's new to Polis, so behave."

"New, huh? Are you with the merchants?"

"No, Clarke is a nightblood." Costia cut in and Clarke wasn't sure if it was wise to tell anyone that she was a nightblood. She herself may not have made such a big secret out of it since Anya had dragged her to the capitol after her secret wasn't so secret anymore, but there were still people out there who'd love to get their hands on a nightblood. The blonde shuddered at the thought of what they'd do with one of them. She'd rather enter the Conclave unprepared than finding out the cruelty of some crazy person.

"A nightblood? Really, Costia?" Alwa stared wide-eyed between the girls. "Only you, Costia, are able to find yourself a nightblood as a friend."

"It wasn't that hard. Clarke's been spending time around my mother's booth. One thing led to another."

Alwa nodded. "Did you see Jessa and Natri yet?"

"No, not yet. I'm sure they'll arrive later this day, tomorrow morning at the latest. You know they'd never missed the festivities."

"True." Alwa nodded.

"Have you and your father already finished with the preparations of the festival?"

"Almost. My father met some old friends so we're taking a break. Thought I'd use the chance to come and see you. It's been a while we saw each other."

"I expect some good stories from your travels as compensation."

Alwa chuckled. "Understood."

"What do you and your father sell?" Clarke asked curious to learn more about the two vendors.

"We're trading a variety of goods. Since we're travelling through quite a few clans we're picking up some goods in one clan and selling it to another. It all depends on our route. For example we're picking up some fish when we're at Podakru and selling it to Sankru. They love the fish from Podakru. The big lake houses many fish in all kind of forms. There are some as big as your finger and then there are some fish that are even bigger than you. And the lake is so big, you're not able to see the other end."

"It sounds interesting. I wish I could travel through the many clans and see all the beautiful places there are." Clarke replied as she dreamt of exploring the world.

"If you want I could tell you a few stories from my travels."

Clarke smiled at his offer, eager to know more. "I'd love to hear some of your experiences."

Alwa chatted with them for a few more minutes before he excused himself stating that he should look after his father and their booth and with the promise of seeing them tomorrow he left them as quick as he had come.

"So, are you in the mood to help my mother in her preparations?" Costia asked with her usual chipper voice.

Clarke nodded and followed Costia back to the by now well-known place of Mira's booth, hoping to see Muele and Tarko, too.

And once again excitement flushed through her body at the prospect of the festival, already thinking of ways to sneak out of the tower.

* * *

 **I'm not really happy with this chapter, but it's the best I could manage. I hope it's not that bad.**

 **I though hard about what tattoo Clarke would have, and I love Eliza's shoulder tattoo and its meaning. And since I've seen Eliza's tattoo peeking out once in an episode (I smiled really hard at that and watched that scene twice!) I decided to make it official with a little twist. The Ark symbol is displayed in the middle.**

 **Please, tell me your thoughts on this one.**

 **Until the next time!**


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